Mobility on Demand

IDSS PI: Emilio Frazzoli
Collaborator: Daniela Rus

Research and development on autonomous cars is currently very active, and cars able to drive safely and reliably without need for human supervision are no longer science fiction. Researchers are not only developing the technology to make autonomous cars a reality, but are also analyzing their potential impact on urban mobility. A recent case study based on Singapore data shows that autonomous car sharing could reduce the number of passenger vehicles by 60%. A group of researchers at IDSS and CSAIL, in collaboration with SMART and NUS, has developed a testbed to demonstrate a Mobility on Demand system based on autonomous golf carts.

Other work looks specifically rebalancing strategies for a mobility-on-demand urban transportation system, blending customer-driven vehicles with a taxi service.

References and Related Content:

“Toward a Systematic Approach to the Design and Evaluation of Automated Mobility-on-Demand Systems: A Case Study in Singapore” – Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Sept. 2015.

“Self-driving golf carts” – MIT News, Sept. 2015.

“Rebalancing the rebalancers: Optimally routing vehicles and drivers in mobility-on-demand systems” – 2013 American Control Conference (ACC), June 2013.

“New algorithm finds best routes for one-way car sharing” – MIT News, June 2013.