If you are interested in taking up a deep dive on future of mobility and get paid for it, this is definitely for you.

Details

The Urban Transport & Energy Group at UCL Energy Institute invites applications for a fully funded three-year PhD studentship. It will covering UK/EU fees plus stipend to focus on the development of the demand components of an advanced transport and energy activity based model able to simulate the multidimensional impacts of new mobility services on travel behaviour, traffic congestion, and energy consumption.

 Supervisors: Dr Maria Kamargianni, Lecturer in Energy & Transport, UCL EI; and Prof. Andreas Schäfer, Professor in Energy & Transport, UCL EI

• Title: PhD Studentship in Travel Demand Modelling, Mobility as Service & Big Data
• Stipend: approx. £16,500 & UK/EU fees & Annual research budget of £1000 and you will also be able to apply for additional funding to UCL schemes to cover extra costs of training and travel.
• Start date: September/October 2017
• Funding duration: Three years
• Eligibility please check: https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/eligibility/

Person Specification

The project is well-suited to a highly-quantitative individual with strong mathematical, data handling and computing skills. Students should have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject or a closely-related discipline, awarded with first-class or upper second-class (2:1) honours, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard from a recognised higher education institute. For those applicants with a first or 2:1, possession of a master’s degree in engineering, computer science, economics, geography or related disciplines is highly desirable.

• Excellent analytical and computing skills. Passionate about data analysis, modelling, programming and conducting research.
• A MSc degree in transport engineering, big data analysis, machine learning, software development, geography, economics or other relevant transport or computer science disciplines.
• Candidates without a master’s degree may be admitted in exceptional cases where suitable research or professional experience can be demonstrated.
• Knowledge of relevant programming languages or statistical software (such as Python, C++, R, MATLab)
• Ability use own initiative, prioritise workload, and be a fair team player
• Good interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written)
• A high level of attention to detail in working methods
• Interest in the challenges of the Transport sector of the 21st century

Application Procedure

Stage 1 – Pre-application documents – (1) CV, (2) academic transcripts, and (3) one-page personal statement outlining motivation, interest and eligibility for the post – should be emailed directly to Mae Oroszlany: e.oroszlany@ucl.ac.uk.

Stage 2 – Following the interview, the successful candidate will be invited to make a formal application to the UCL Research Degree programme. Further guidance will be provided.

You will also have to meet the UCL’s English Language requirements.

Informal enquiries on the content of the research topic should be emailed to Dr Maria Kamargianni, m.kamargianni@ucl.ac.uk

Deadline for application:  05 May 2017

Interviews week starting 15 May 2017

Just spotted this awesome report from Transport Systems Catapult in the United Kingdom that explores the opportunities offered by Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept and highlights how transportation policy might support MaaS growth. For the uninformed, the Transport Systems Catapult is one of ten elite technology and innovation centres established and overseen by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

What if all trips in a city were carried out by a fleet of self-driving cars shared by users? The latest report from OECD’s International Transportation Forum explores the potential outcomes of such a radical upgrade in an urban mobility system. The report concludes that up to 9 out of 10 conventional cars could become redundant under certain circumstances. Vast amounts of public space would be freed for other uses in such a scenario. Take a look:

If you get a chance, visit their website and even better plan a visit to attend the upcoming ITF conference in Leipzig, Germany.  I had the privilege to be a part of this event last year and came away with a lot of very important issues, esp. related to transportation policy, at a global level. It was one of the well-organized and best run events that I got to attend in all of my years as a transportation professional.

The simple math of owning a car vs. not owning one marks the paradigm shift in attitudes among generations. What was once not feasible – living without a car – has now become easy (at least in many cities across the US), thanks to location-based, on-demand transportation solutions such as Uber and Lyft. In a Business Insider article, Katherine Krug, summarizes her car-free life in San Francisco.

Since giving up my car (in Oct’ 2013) , I now spend an average of $572 per month on transportation, which comes to $11,352 per year in savings. On top of that, I get back my time, the most valuable thing of all. I save an average of 6.5 days per year — almost a full week! — to focus on the things I want to be doing, rather than serving my car.

What caught my attention is the last sentence – Katherine’s elation about not “serving” her car. If this is how the youngsters feel about automobiles there is no way anyone can make an argument for owning a car. Maybe we have turned a new page in America’s love affair with the automobiles (which, at times, seems untrue when you read about booming auto sales)?

In the backdrop of how not owning a car helped manage her mobility needs while also saving her a ton of cash, you would be astonished to see Sarah’s average monthly expenditures (and time associated)  when she owned the car (see table below). Read more here

Image via Business Insider

via Citylab

This interesting chart was a part of a CityLab article that analyses how Germany is less car dependent than the United States by looking data from comparable cities in each of these nations.  What caught my attention, among the many things, is the difference in the carbon footprint.  In the US, Transport sector alone accounts for 32% of our overall CO2 emissions whereas in Germany it is only 19%.  If we ever get around to implementing a carbon tax, it could fall precipitously but I don’t see that happening anytime soon, given the current political discourse.

The data come from a recent comparison of German and U.S. planning approaches led by transport scholar Ralph Buehler of Virginia Tech. Drilling down to the city level, Buehler and collaborators find more of the same driving trends in an analysis of two large metros from each country: Washington, D.C., and Stuttgart.

Present your ideas for smarter mobility and urban development at Transforming Transportation 2015

Transforming Transportation 2015 (#TTDC15) is the annual conference co-organized by EMBARQ, the sustainable urban transport program of the World Resources Institute, and the World Bank. This year’s conference will focus onSmart Cities for Shared Prosperity, and will examine how smart, connected urban mobility can improve quality of life in cities.

We’re inviting YOU to become a presenter! Pitch your ideas to present on either “Innovations in Urban Development for Smart Cities” or Innovations in Mobility for Smart Cities.” Presentations will follow the PechaKucha format and must be submitted by December 2, 2014 at 11:59pm EST. Those interested can consult the detailed submission guidelines.

For any questions or comments, please contact embarq@wri.org. Tune in for regular updates at www.TransformingTransportation.org and on social media by following #TTDC15.

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the Austrian research institute with European format which focuses on the key infrastructure issues of the future, is looking to strengthen its team in the Department Mobility with the immediate appointment of a PhD Thesis “Perception Based Modeling”

 Job profile:

Over the past years, the “Dynamic Transportation Systems” group within the AIT´s Mobility Department has carried out extensive research in the field of modeling and simulation of human and crowd behavior. The increasing availability of large data sets originating from a broad variety of novel sensor technologies enables to investigate new ways for closing the gap between individual decisions based on context-related perception and the integration of this individual knowledge into mobility simulations. The ultimate goal is to integrate perceptual models with the simulation of movement behavior in train stations, airports and dense urban areas (including shopping areas) in order to optimize mobility flows according to different criteria.

We are seeking an exceptional PhD candidate to fill a sponsored research position involving the development of novel methods to capture and process human perception data as well as to integrate human perception information into mobility simulation tools.

This PhD project will be part of the research collaboration between the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that aspires to advance the state-of-the-art of integrating perception data into simulation models.

Qualifications:

• Passion for finding creative solutions for bridging the gap between the natural and social sciences
• Outstanding master´s degree and proven experience in either computer science, software engineering, applied mathematics or sociology, environmental psychology, transportation research with a strong interest in exploring the synergies between engineering and psychology
• Candidates should have strong, proven knowledge in some of the following areas:
  • Data management (e.g. database systems)
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Mathematical modeling and computer simulation in the field of transportation
  • Good programming skills in Matlab and/or Java
  • Behavior research (e.g. neuroscience, psychology, social science, gaming, or human computer interaction)
• High motivation for research and capability of working in an autonomous way
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and oral form

Offer:

• Begin: Immediately
• Duration: 3 years

Place of employment: Vienna, Austria; research visits at the MIT

We are pleased to invite interested persons who wish to contribute their knowledge, their network and their ideas to the field of applied research. Please attach meaningful application documents, including certificates and photos.

Mrs. Maria Leonhard-Maurer, MSc
Head of Human Resources
2444 Seibersdorf
Tel.: +43(0) 50550 – 2032
maria.leonhard-maurer@ait.ac.at

click here to apply and to learn more about AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Donau-City-Straße 1 | 1220 Wien, Austria | T +43 (0) 50550-0 | F +43 (0) 50550-2201, office@ait.ac.at | www.ait.ac.at, T +43 (0) 505 50, F +43 (0) 505 50-2201, www.arcs.ac.at

The USDOT ITS Joint Program Office recently published “An Open Dialogue On The Draft Focus And Themes For The Next ITS Strategic Research Plan,” available at http://www.its.dot.gov/strategicplan/.  The purpose of this document is to establish a starting point for creating the next ITS Strategic Plan. The goal of presenting themes is to enable continuity of the current research programs while establishing new or redefined goals and objectives to meet emerging research needs. The themes fall into three broad categories:

• Maturing Connected Vehicle Systems – Focuses on what is needed to accelerate the maturity of vehicle-based communications with surrounding systems

• Piloting and Deployment Readiness – Focuses on the security, policy, business opportunities, capabilities, pilots, and incentives needed to support vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) implementation

• Integrating with the Broader Environment – Focuses on the integration and decision support capabilities to enable V2V and V2I (collectively termed V2X) interaction with other governmental services and public utilities.

We invite the community to consider providing input to the draft themes by visiting http://itsstrategicplan.ideascale.com/.  The USDOT is seeking your input on the following key questions, although other input is highly welcome:

·         What technological changes will occur in the near future that will impact transportation?

·         Are the themes outlined here addressing the technological and societal changes that affect transportation?

·         Are there other themes we should be considering? If so, why?

·         Are there themes that should not be considered, or moved to a different timeframe?

·         What is the appropriate federal role in technology and transportation that best assists the private sector and travelers at large?

Your input is requested no later than Friday, March 15, 2013.  Your attention and consideration of this request is greatly appreciated.

Despite the bold predictions (75% of vehicles on road will be autonomous by 2040!!!), the infographic below visually captures some of the benefits of autonomous vehicles.. 

From: Bankrate Insurance’s InsuranceQuotes.com