Travel Behavior

The Path Inference Filter: Model-Based Low-Latency Map Matching of Probe Vehicle Data

Hunter, Timothy
Abbeel, Pieter
Alexandre Bayen
2014

We consider the problem of reconstructing vehicle trajectories from sparse sequences of GPS points, for which the sampling interval is between 1 s and 2 min. We introduce a new class of algorithms, which are altogether called the path inference filter (PIF), that maps GPS data in real time, for a variety of tradeoffs and scenarios and with a high throughput. Numerous prior approaches in map matching can be shown to be special cases of the PIF presented in this paper. We present an efficient procedure for automatically training the filter on new data, with or without ground-truth...

To Pool or Not to Pool? Understanding the Time and Price Tradeoffs of OnDemand Ride Users – Opportunities, Challenges, and Social Equity Considerations for Policies to Promote Shared-Ride Services

Susan Shaheen
Lazarus, Jessica
Caicedo, Juan
Alexandre Bayen
2021

On-demand mobility services including transportation network companies (also known as ridesourcing and ridehailing) like Lyft and Uber are changing the way that people travel by providing dynamic mobility that can supplement public transit and personal-vehicle use. However, TNC services have been found to contribute to increasing vehicle mileage, traffic congestion, and greenhouse gas emissions. Pooling rides ⎯ sharing a vehicle by multiple passengers to complete journeys of similar origin and destination ⎯ can increase the average vehicle occupancy of TNC trips and thus mitigate some of...

Learning Generalizable Multi-Lane Mixed-Autonomy Behaviors in Single Lane Representations of Traffic

Kreidieh, Abdul Rahman
Zhao, Yibo
Parajuli, Samyak
Alexandre Bayen
2021

Reinforcement learning techniques can provide substantial insights into the desired behaviors of future autonomous driving systems. By optimizing for societal metrics of traffic such as increased throughput and reduced energy consumption, such methods can derive maneuvers that, if adopted by even a small portion of vehicles, may significantly improve the state of traffic for all vehicles involved. These methods, however, are hindered in practice by the difficulty of designing efficient and accurate models of traffic, as well as the challenges associated with optimizing for the behaviors of...

A Tutorial on Neural Network-Based Solvers for Hyperbolic Conservation Laws: Supervised vs. Unsupervised Learning, and Applications to Traffic Modeling

Canesse, Alexi
Fu, Zhe
Lichtle, Nathan
Matin, Hossein Nick Zinat
Liu, Zhe
Monache, Maria Laura Delle
Alexandre Bayen
2025

Neural networks (NNs) are powerful tools for solving complex partial differential equations (PDEs) with high accuracy. However, many NN-based solvers are designed as general-purpose models or lack theoretical grounding, limiting their ability to capture essential solution properties such as regularity, conservation, and entropy conditions. This issue is especially critical for hyperbolic conservation laws, which govern wave propagation and shock formation, and are among the most challenging PDEs to solve accurately. This tutorial examines both supervised and unsupervised NN-based solvers...

Modeling Private Car Ownership in China: Investigation of Urban Form Impact Across Megacities

Li, Jieping
Joan Walker
Srinivasan, Sumeeta
Anderson, William P.
2010

The rising prevalence of private cars in the developing world is causing serious congestion and pollution. In China, private cars started to emerge as an important travel mode in the past decade. Prospective research on the relationship between urban form and car ownership is relatively uncommon in the developing world, and China offers a unique study opportunity, given the tremendous increases in private cars and fast-paced urbanization over the past decade. This study investigates the influence of urban form on car ownership as well as the impact of other socioeconomic and demographic...

Vehicle Ownership and Mode Use: The Challenge of Sustainability

Srinivasan, Sumeeta
Joan Walker
2009

The theme of this special issue is Vehicle Ownership and Mode Use—the Challenge of Sustainability. This topic was inspired by the increasing emphasis by society on sustainability, in general, and the role of transportation within this broader picture. Indeed, issues of climate change and energy needs are among the biggest challenges currently facing the transportation profession. The quest for sustainable travel has, for better or for worse, been aided recently by historically high fuel prices as well as economic struggles. Together these forces have led to a reduction...

Experimental Economics in Transportation: Focus on Social Influences and Provision of Information

Gaker, David
Zheng, Yanding
Joan Walker
2010

A major aspect of transportation planning is understanding behavior: how to predict it and how to influence it over the long term. Behavioral models in transportation are predominantly rooted in the classic microeconomic paradigm of rationality. However, there is a long history in behavioral economics of raising serious questions about rationality. Behavioral economics has made inroads in transportation in the areas of survey design, prospect theory, and attitudinal variables. Further infusion into transportation could lead to significant benefits in terms of increased ability to both...

Transportation Impacts of Information Provision & Data Collection via Smartphones

Vautin, David A.
Joan Walker
2011

The proliferation of smartphones over the next decade, with their abilities to provide personalized travel information and collect highly detailed data, will likely have significant impacts on transportation operations, systems planning, and travel behavior. Three core issues are studied to understand these impacts. First, the authors examine the key differences between past intelligent transportation systems (ITS) efforts and new opportunities made possible by the rapid proliferation of smartphones. Second, system frameworks for data collection and information provision are...

Insights on Car-Use Behaviors from Behavioral Economics

Gaker, David
Joan Walker
Lucas, Karen
Blumenberg, Evelyn
Weinberger, Rachel
2011

Car culture is a large part of Western societies, and practically all of us make many decisions regarding our utilization of automobiles several times every day. In this chapter we focus on these types of influences, and our approach is to draw lessons from the field of behavioral economics to see what insights we can bring to car use behavior.

Travel Demand Models in the Developing World: Correcting for Measurement Errors

Joan Walker
Li, Jieping
Srinivasan, Sumeeta
Bolduc, Denis
2010

While transport modelers in developed countries are accustomed to working with relatively rich datasets including transport networks and land use data, such databases are rarely available in developing countries. However, developing countries such as China with its immense rate of economic growth are, arguably, most in need of demand models. The research addressed in this paper is how to develop mode choice models for planning and policy analysis when level of service data are not available and resources are limited. The research makes use of a 1,001 household travel and activity survey...