ITS Berkeley

UC Berkeley Develops New User-Friendly Tool to Expedite the Evaluation of Connected Automated Vehicle Technologies

Fu, Zhe
Liu, Hao, PhD
Lu, Xiao-Yun, PhD
2020

Connected Automated Vehicles (CAVs) are similar to other automated vehicles with the distinguishing difference being that CAVs obtain information about road conditionsdirectly from other vehicles and infrastructure (e.g., traffic signals, road sensors) rather than relying solely on onboard sensors. Different CAV technologies are currently being tested and evaluated to assess the prospects for future implementation. These tests involve moving CAV-equipped vehicles on a physical test track and recording how the vehicles operate under different traffic conditions (Figure 1). Since it is...

Public-Private Partnerships Show Promise for Shifting Export of California Produce from Truck to Rail

Seeherman, Joshua, PhD
Caicedo, Juan
Jung, Jae Esther
Hansen, Mark, PhD
2018

California is one of the largest producers of perishable produce in the world; producing about 25 million tons of fruits and vegetables each year. This sector supports a large transportation industry that handles the exports of these goods. Starting from the 1950’s, the export of produce has gradually shifted modes from rail to trucks. Currently, only 3% of California’s produce is being exported by rail. However, this share has begun to increase due to efforts in private industry to monetize this space, with total rail tonnage exceeding one million for the first time in decades starting in...

Simulation Techniques to Obtain Confidence Intervals for Willingness to Pay Measures

Espino, Raquel
Ortuzar, Juan de Dios
Roman, Concepcion
2004

We obtain confidence intervals for willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures derived from a mode choice model estimated to analyse travel demand for suburban trips in the two main interurban corridors in Gran Canaria island, using a mixed RP/SP data base. We considered a specification of the systematic utility that incorporates income effect and interactions among socioeconomic variables and level-of-service attributes, as well as between travel cost and frequency. As our model provides rather complex expressions of the marginal utilities, we simulated the distribution of the WTP (in general,...

Multi-Lane Hybrid Traffic Flow Model: Quantifying the Impacts of Lane-Changing Maneuvers on Traffic Flow

Laval, Jorge A.
Daganzo, Carlos F.
2004

A multi-lane traffic flow model realistically captures the disruptive effects of lane- changing vehicles by recognizing their limited ability to accelerate. While they accelerate, these vehicles create voids in the traffic stream that affect its character. Bounded acceleration explains two features of freeway traffic streams: the capacity drop of freeway bottlenecks, and the quantitative relation between the discharge rate of moving bottlenecks and bottleneck speed. The model com- bines a multilane kinematic wave module for the traffic stream, with a detailed constrained-motion model to...

Improved Data Measurement Using Existing Loop Detectors

Coifman, Benjamin
1999

This paper develops an improved algorithm for estimating velocity from isolated loop detector data. Unlike preceding works, the algorithm is simple enough that it can be implemented using existing controller hardware. The discussion shows how the benefits of this work extend to automated tests of detector data quality at dual loop speed traps. Finally, this paper refutes an earlier study that found conventional isolated loop velocity estimates are biased keywords: traffic surveillance, single loop detectors, velocity estimation data screening

MPO Planning and Implementation of State Policy Goals

Barbour, Elisa
Rodriguez, Emil
Thoron, Noah
Handy, Susan
Lee, Amy
2021

MPO Planning and Implementation of State Policy Goals evaluates California metropolitan planning organizations’ regional transportation plans and sustainable communities strategies and looks at the relationship between MPO plans and what is actually funded through transportation improvement programs.

Urban Air Mobility: Viability of Hub-Door and Door-Door Movement by Air

Bulusu, Vishwanath
Sengupta, Raja
2020

Owing to a century of innovation in connected and automated aircraft design, for the rst time in history, air transport presents a potential competitive alternative to road, for hub-to-door and door-to-door urban services. In this article, we study the viability of air transport, for moving people and goods in an urban area, based on three metrics - enroute travel time, fuel cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We estimate the metrics from emission standards and operational assumptions on vehicles based on current market data and compare electric air travel to gasoline road travel. For...

Inclusionary Zoning in a Monocentric City

Lehe, Lewis
2014

To show how inclusionary zoning alters development, the author finds the most profitable housing design to build on vacant lots at each location in a monocentric city under different regulatory regimes. Section 1 sets up the model by specifying renter's preferences, geography and building parameters. Section 2 solves the developer's profit-maximization problem at each location under each regime. Finally, in Section 3, a numerical simulation confirms the effects predicted by theory and gives a picture of their magnitude.

Some Properties of a Multi-Lane Extension of the Kinematic Wave Model

Laval, Jorge A.
2003

This paper extends an existing continuum multi-lane formulation for traffic flow, provides a discrete formulation for its numerical solution, and show initial results. The new formulation enables a natural treatment of boundary conditions such as merges, diverges, lane-drops and moving bottlenecks. The proposed model needs few extra parameters and is parsimonious. The look-ahead distance, for example, induces that non-local conditions affect the flow at any time-space point, causing smooth regime changes and fast waves. We find that as the look-ahead distance tends to zero, the solution...

Flexibility in California Transportation Funding Programs and Implications for More Climate-Aligned Spending

Segal, Katie
Elkind, Ethan
Lamm, Ted
2021

Flexibility in California Transportation Funding Programs and Implications for More Climate-Aligned Spending examines key features of the legislative authority for transportation planning and finance in California, including local option sales taxes for transportation, and assesses the amount of flexibility that current laws and practices allow for reprioritizing projects as problems and priorities change.