| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | April 30, 2021 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 30, 2021 |
| Award Number: | 2127677 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Shen
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2021 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $199,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $199,999.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551 CHICAGO IL US 60612-4305 (312)996-2862 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1030 N. State Street, Suite 48H Chicago IL US 60607-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | CIS-Civil Infrastructure Syst |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project will support a proof-of-concept study to (1) understand the fundamental trade-offs in Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology (AMVT) based bi-modality system, or AMVT-BM, that provides integrated public transit and last-mile logistics services with a fleet of modular autonomous vehicles, or pods, and (2) gauge potential stakeholders? interest and reaction to the technology. In the U.S., public transit vehicles have a very low average load factor (10.1% ~ 12.4%), resulting in 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 nearly 80% 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. Coupled with modularity, 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. Yet, the implementation of this idea requires not only technological breakthrough, but also a system approach that transcends the boundaries of the two highly siloed sectors in the transportation industry.
In this study, we will focus on two most fundamental questions: (1) what are the impacts of co-modality and modularity on system performance? And (2) what are synergistic potential and adoption challenges from the perspective of stakeholders such as transit agencies, urban planners, logistics companies, transportation network companies, and auto makers? The research agenda consists of two tasks designed to seek answers to these questions. Task 1 investigates the impacts of modularity and co-modality via analysis and simulation. Task 2 recruits and surveys potential stakeholders for their views on a wide range of issues related to the adoption of AMVT-BM. The project will create a suite of optimization tools for analyzing modularized transit and last-mile delivery service systems. It will also develop the first of its kind simulation testbed to guide the design and evaluation of an AMVT-BM system that integrates transit and last-mile delivery operations. Through a three-phase stakeholder survey, the project will document and analyze technological, institutional, and financial potentials as well as barriers to the real-world implementation of AMVT-BM systems, which will shed light on the design and operation of these systems. The project findings will help identify critical future research agenda.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project envisions a future co-modality mobility system that is enabled by Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology(AMVT). The modular autonomous vehicles (AVs) are also known as pods, powered by electricity. Pods run on existing road infrastructure individually or as a connected pod train. AMVT promises exciting multifaceted mobility services that are flexible and customizable due to its two attractive features: modularity and autonomy. AVs are widely expected to be a game changer in transportation. Coupling modularity and autonomy, AMVT is poised to shape the evolution of the current transportation paradigm.
This EAGER project is the first step toward understanding the fundamental trade-offs in an AMVT-based mobility service in two primary applications – public transit and last-mile logistics, separately and integrally.
Intellectual Merits. Three research areas of focus have been carried out: (1) feasibility investigation of an AMVT-based public transit service, (2) AMVT-based last mile delivery and parcel station applications, and co-modality service design, and (3) market mechanisms for co-modality services. In (1), we find that Autonomous Modular Public Transit(AMPT), if designed properly, may save the total cost compared to traditional transit systems thanks to demand responsive pod train capacity, particularly in the small areas with low demand scenarios. The cost savings of AMPT are largely attributed to passenger time saving by en-route transfer; the agency cost of AMPT has a mixed picture. The load factor of AMPT generally improves over the traditional transit service. We also show how key parameter values may affect the AMPT costs through sensitivity analysis. In (2), results show that using AMVT for last mile delivery would decrease the overall operation cost of the system compared to classical depot-based methods where trucks deliver packages. Moreover, these cost savings are more significant in areas with higher demand variations and overall demand. Implementing this innovative approach can help delivery companies cut transportation costs while maintaining delivery times and service levels, promoting environmental sustainability to meet the demands of the growing e-commerce industry. In (3), we investigate the co-modality market that takes advantage of modularity technology using a market-driven approach. We formulate the system design problems of two market participants, i.e., the transit operator and the freight carrier under three market game structures: the non-cooperative (NC) game, the operator-led Stackelberg (OLS) game, and the carrier-led Stackelberg (CLS) game. Our numerical results confirm that, in both the OLS and CLS games without market intervention, the leader always “pushes” the follower to its break-even point, even if the follower is self-interested. Consequently, only the leader can benefit from the co-modality service. However, we also observe that a carefully designed cap on the rent price of pods in the NC or OLS game can promote mutual benefits for both participators of the co-modality service. In these two games, the social cost is minimized when the price is mandated to be zero. Most importantly, we find that the CLS game yields the most favorable output, as it not only achieves the lowest social cost but also does so without the need for any regulatory policies.
Broader Impact. AMVT promises exciting multifaceted mobility services that are flexible and customizable due to its two attractive features: modularity and autonomy. AVs are widely expected to be a game changer in transportation. Coupling modularity and autonomy, AMVT is poised to shape the evolution of the current transportation paradigm. This EAGER project is the first step toward understanding the fundamental trade-offs in AMVT-based mobility service systems in public transit and last mile delivery and gauging potential stakeholders’ interest and reaction to the technology itself and the real-world prospect of the envisioned AMVT-MMS. The outcomes of this project may not only contribute methodologically to transportation modeling, but also provoke the outside-the-box (breaking-the-solo) thinking in transportation research and practice. AMVT could potentially change the urban mobility (goods and people) landscape and provide more demand responsiveandcost saving transit service. It may also spur value-added startup services built on AMVT.
Last Modified: 09/10/2024
Modified by: Jane Lin
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