News

Each year, the D-STOP Symposium brings together top experts in the field of automated vehicles, connected infrastructure and new mobility services to share their emerging research that will impact the future of transportation planning and technology.

The Data-Supported Transportation Operations and Planning Center (D-STOP) from UT Austin met with representatives from local and state government, academia and industry in early April at a symposium designed to collaborate on the future of Smart Cities. The day-long event explored smart transportation systems, collaborative ecosystems, infrastructure-based technology, regional planning and analytics and connected vehicles through a series of panels featuring experts in the field.

Freight handling operations spend a lot of money to obtain the required picture, dimension and weight data for every piece of cargo they move. But their data transmission systems for tracking this information is either outdated or expensive. With the International Maritime Organization’s new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) mandates starting in July 2016, verifying the exact weight of cargo is more important than ever.

In 2013, 32,719 fatalities resulted from traffic crashes, most of which were caused by driver error. Across the globe, people are facing longer commutes and five Texas communities are in the top 26 most congested cities in the United States. Traffic congestion creates about 4.8 billion hours of travel delay and affects the environment through increased carbon footprints and higher fuel consumption.