摘要: |
The Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute is a congressionally designated University Transportation Center (UTC) funded through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the federal transportation bill passed in 1998. This funding continues the Institute's efforts initiated under TEA-21's predecessor, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). The Institute plans and conducts activities that further the mission of the United States Department of Transportation's UTC program: to advance U.S. technology and expertise in the many disciplines that make up transportation through education, research, and technology transfer activities at university-based centers of excellence. Our focus is human-centered technology that enhances the safety and mobility of road- and transit-based transportation. To that end, we direct the collective energies of researchers from multiple disciplines to advance the state of the art in the core ITS technologies of computing, sensing, communications, and control systems in order to surmount the significant transportation problems of the day. Based on our theme, we bring together engineers and cognitive psychologists from the University with our partners-the USDOT, the Minnesota DOT, other government agencies, and private industry-to ensure that Institute-developed technologies become tools that help us understand and overcome human limitations as they relate to transportation. Additionally, we address issues related to transportation in a northern climate, investigate technologies for improving the safety of travel in rural environments, and consider social and economic policy issues related to the deployment of core ITS technologies. |