Nowadays, we are witnessing several paradigm shifts in mobility systems and services. Cities are decarbonizing the transportation sector and are moving from car-centric mobility to multimodal mobility; from restricted mobility in two-dimensional streets to 3D mobility; from rigid schedule mobility to mobility on demand and on an as-needed basis and from fragmented unconnected mobility to seamless integrated mobility. Mobility companies move from manufacturing and trade economy to service economy or servitization such as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and from the unsustainable “number of vehicles sold”’-based revenue model to vehicle miles traveled (VMT)-based, infonomics-based data and customer experience monetization and passenger economy-based revenue models. Delivery service providers move from conventional slow, rigid and non-transparent last-mile delivery to fast, elastic and transparent last-mile delivery services. People move from ownership to usership and from passive mobility to active and zero-impact mobility. Different foundational technologies, technology enablers and mobility disruptors are behind these paradigm shifts. This talk describes these technologies and highlights their potential growth and eco-socio-economic implications. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behaviors and preferences and the expected short-term disruptions and longer-term structural changes in different aspects of mobility systems especially in micromobility, shared mobility, public transit, and contactless last-mile delivery services will also be highlighted.

In modern cities, both the problem of mobility and the solution tools are different than old cities. Needs like Clean air, efficient use of parking locations, Efficient and safe goods transportation and traffic jam reduction have been approached by new technologies including electrical vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and ride sharing. Inter-operability between land, marine, and air transportation will allow the optimal transportation throughput with minimal trip time. Smart Mobility refers to the combination of those new problems and the smart technologies used to solve them. This speech will focus on the eco-systems that need to be created in order to manage the different stakes of technology providers, transportation management authorities, legal authorities, and manufacturers of transportation vehicles. What is special for the Arab and middle-east region?, and how can the region’s countries make the best use of smart mobility are some of the topics highlighted in this speech.

A Smart City Signalized ECO-Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control and Multi- objective Dynamic Routing System
Authors: Hao Chen and Hesham A Rakha

Abstract: The paper integrates and tests an Eco-Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control at Intersections (Eco-CACC-I) system with a multi-objective dynamic router on a large-scale metropolitan network to quantify the system-level performance considering different vehicle powertrains, connected automated vehicle (CAV) market penetration rates, and congestion levels. Specifically, three vehicle powertrains are considered in this study, including internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Since the fuel/energy consumption patterns for ICEVs, BEVs and HEVs differ significantly with respect to driving cycles, this study selects appropriate fuel/energy consumption models for different vehicle powertrains. The integrated controller provides optimal routing solutions to save energy and travel time, and also computes energy-optimized trajectories to assist vehicles traverse signalized intersections. A simulated traffic network in the Greater Los Angeles Area including the downtown LA and the immediate vicinity is used to implement and test the integrated controller. The test results demonstrate that the integrated controller produces positive impacts in saving fuel/energy consumption, reducing travel time and delays on urban networks for different combinations of CAV market penetration and congestion levels. We also conducted tests to compare the integrated controller and the multi-objective eco-routing. The test results for BEVs indicate that the integrated controller effectively reduces energy consumption by up to 8.8% and stopped delay by up to 50%, but increases travel time by up to 28% and total delay by up to 43.8%, compared to the multi-objective eco-routing. The comparison results for ICEV and HEV indicate that the integrated controller can effectively reduce stopped delay by up to 72.0% for ICEVs and 72.4% for HEVs under various congestion levels.

We propose a contra-rotating fan system for propulsion of the Hyperloop Pod in a partially vacuumed tube. The contra-rotating stage features two rotors with opposite direction of rotation that provides higher pressure ratio, torque balance, lower RPM compared to a single stage fan. The fan stage is placed in front of the Pod and can be detached from the Pod body in case of fan failure for safety of the passengers. The air from the fans discharge in a transition duct leading to a partially annular convergent nozzle. The nozzle exit is located on the upper half of the Pod tail in order to accommodate the levitation hoverboards, and brake systems located at the bottom surface of the Pod. Numerical simulations of the propulsion system are performed using NUMECA software.