Research ideas tagged “transport”

Who gets EV chargers?

Electric vehicle charging appears on 89 recent papers across operations research, economics and AI, mostly on where to put chargers to serve demand; only 8 carry an equity, income or rural keyword. Public money now pays for much of the network. Are poorer and rural areas left with charging deserts, and does that slow electric vehicle adoption there?

Papers in the last 30 days — charging infrastructure: 3 · electric vehicles: 7

Air taxis before the first passenger

Urban air mobility, eVTOL aircraft and vertiports appear on 24 recent papers in the operations research and AI journals, with 10 in the last quarter against about 4 per quarter before. The first commercial air taxi services are being certified. Where do the routing and scheduling models get their demand numbers, and would anyone pay the fares the models assume?

Papers in the last 30 days — urban air mobility: 3 · eVTOL: 1

Robotaxis and the ride-hailing market

Ride-hailing and ride-sharing appear on 62 recent papers, mostly in operations research, and 11 of them carry an autonomous-vehicle keyword, with robotaxis on 3. Driverless taxis now operate commercially in several cities. What happens to prices, waiting times and drivers' earnings where they compete with human-driven rides?

Papers in the last 30 days — ride-hailing: 3 · robotaxis: 1

Rail freight and the modal shift that does not come

Rail freight, railway operations and intermodal freight transport appear on 55 recent papers, with 14 in the last quarter against about 12 per quarter before. Governments want freight moved from trucks to rail for climate reasons, yet rail's share keeps falling in most of Europe and the US. Which bottlenecks (terminals, reliability, pricing) matter, and what would change shippers' choices?

Papers in the last 30 days — rail freight: 1 · railway operations: 2

Shared micromobility after the boom

Bike sharing, electric scooters and shared micromobility appear on 19 recent papers, mostly in operations research, and the topic is fading, with 2 papers in the last quarter against about 6 per quarter before. Several operators have failed and cities have banned scooters. Which systems survived, and did they replace car trips or walking?

Slow ships, clean fuels and the port queue

Port operations, maritime logistics, container shipping and port congestion appear on dozens of recent papers in the operations research journals, while ship emissions and maritime decarbonization appear on 9 and 8. Shipping now pays for carbon in Europe and faces a global fuel standard. Do slower ships and new fuels cut emissions, or shift them to ports and queues?

Papers in the last 30 days — container shipping: 3 · port operations: 1

Inspecting bridges and power lines by drone

Industrial and infrastructure inspection appear on 139 recent papers, almost all in AI journals about detecting defects in images, and 25 of them involve drones or robots. Ageing bridges, pipelines and power lines need inspecting more often than inspectors can manage. How much do drone inspections cost and miss compared with people, and do they change maintenance decisions?

Papers in the last 30 days — industrial inspection: 3

Congestion pricing in New York

Congestion pricing, low emission zones and road tolls appear on just 10 recent papers, with one in the last quarter. New York's congestion charge began in January 2025, the first in the US, after years of delay. What did it do to traffic, transit, business and air quality, and who paid?

Autonomous driving and the economics of blame

Autonomous driving and autonomous vehicles appear on 314 recent papers, 270 of them in AI journals about perception and control, and only 29 carry a liability, insurance, regulation, acceptance or ethics keyword, with liability on 2. Driverless cars are now on public roads. When one crashes, who pays, and does the answer shape what gets deployed?

Papers in the last 30 days — autonomous driving: 5 · autonomous driving safety: 1