Abstract
In the United States, public transit vehicles have a very low average load factor (10.1-12.4%), resulting in an excessive waste of seat capacity and poor fuel economy per passenger mile served. This problem is gravely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which at its peak had caused more than 70% reduction in transit ridership nationwide. On the other hand, the rapid uptake of e-commerce, also accelerated by the pandemic, has put tremendous pressure on last-mile delivery. A co-modality system that integrates transit services with last-mile logistics offers a promising solution to better utilization/sharing of vehicle capacity and supporting infrastructure. Here we show such a system may be implemented based on Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology (AMVT). At the core of AMVT is the ability to operate a fleet of modular autonomous vehicles or pods that can be moved, stationed, joined, and separated in real time. Coupling modularity with autonomy is poised to enable co-modality and beyond. We describe an AMVT bimodality system that provides integrated public transit and last-mile logistics services with a fleet of pods and discuss relevant research challenges and opportunities, research approaches, and real-world adoption issues.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 378-386 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2023 |
Funding
The research is funded by the National Science Foundation (#2127677) Civil Infrastructure.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Automotive Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Computer Science Applications