C2SMART researchers at NYU developed a virtual testbed for NYC using large-scale transportation simulation models built with the MATSim and SUMO open-source simulation platforms. In addition to the development of the integrated and open simulation platform, several algorithms and novel approaches for on-line calibration, real-time computation, etc. were developed using this new simulation tool. The research efforts produced a large scale simulation testbed that could be used to evaluate new technologies and policies on transportation systems produced in the research phase for NYC Open Data and other government databases. A series of test cases could be conducted using either tool and by combining them together, such as planning and forecasting the effects of network changes are policies such as for-hire vehicle caps and congestion/cordon pricing. Applications include on-demand robotic taxi, traffic flow modifications to allow for connected vehicles, and dockless bike-share. The research provided resources and a virtual framework for supporting and helping the public sector’s decision making to fill in the gap between basic research and field deployment. Subsequent implementations of the testbed in other cities would form the basis for a “Network of Living Labs” to accelerate shared knowledge transfer.
Dr. Joseph Chow is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Urban Engineering and Deputy Director at the C2SMART University Transportation Center at NYU and heads BUILT@NYU: the Behavioral Urban Informatics, Logistics, and Transport Laboratory. His research expertise lies in transportation systems, with emphasis on multimodal networks, behavioral urban logistics, smart cities, and transport economics. He is an NSF CAREER award recipient; he serves as the elected Vice-Chair of the Urban Transportation SIG at INFORMS Transportation Science & Logistics Society and is an appointed member of the Editorial Boards for Transportation Research Part B and the Committee on Transportation Network Modeling (ADB30) at the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. Prior to NYU, Dr. Chow was the Canada Research Chair in Transportation Systems Engineering at Ryerson University. From 2010 to 2012, he was a Lecturer at the University of Southern California and a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Irvine, where he led the development of a statewide freight forecast model for Caltrans. He has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from UC Irvine (‘10), and an M.Eng. (‘01) and B.S. (‘00) in Civil Engineering from Cornell University with a minor in Applied Math. Dr. Chow is a former Eisenhower and Eno Fellow and a licensed PE in NY.
Yueshuai Brian He is a PhD candidate of Transportation Planning and Engineering in New York University. He received both his bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering and master’s degree in Transportation Information Engineering from Beihang University (BUAA). His research interests include privacy control for transportation network data sharing, agent-based simulation, and travel demand models.
