Infrastructure, Trafic and Mobility Behaviour

In this topic we combine mobility research areas not related to vehicle engineering. That comprises on the one hand technical aspects such as transport infrastructure and traffic control, and on the other hand non-technical aspects like travel demand or the societal embedding of mobility.

 

Mobility demand can only be realized if both vehicles and appropriate transport networks are available. Roads and railway networks must be designed, built and operated. In order to design roads to be safe, efficient and meeting the demand, we have to understand driving behavior and how it is influenced. Therefore, we study driver behavior and traffic flow empirically using a variety of tools from instrumented vehicles to automated license plate recognition systems. The empirical insights are then formalized into models used to develop traffic flow simulation systems. With the help of such simulation systems, we determine the impacts of new technology such as car-to-car-communication or advanced driver assistance systems and develop optimal traffic control strategies.

 

 

A demand-oriented development of transport infrastructure needs to know travel demand. Here we use both qualitative and quantitative methods to study travel behavior of the population. Since 1994, we annually perform the German Mobility Panel, a national travel behavior household survey for the German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, what provides us with a unique data base to analyze the long-term development of travel behavior. Based on the observed behavior of travelers, we develop agent based travel demand models and use them to estimate the impacts of new mobility services or changing attitudes or regulations. Furthermore, we use technology assessment methods to investigate the acceptance of new mobility solutions in society up to ethical questions arising with automated driving.

 

 

Affiliated Institutes:

 

Institute for Transport Studies (IfV)

www.ifv.kit.edu

 

Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)

www.itas.kit.edu

 

Institute for Material Handling ans Logistics (IFL)

www.ifl.kit.edu

 

Chair of Network Economics (ECON)

http://netze.econ.kit.edu/

 

Institute of Highway and Railroad Engineering (ISE)

www.ise.kit.edu