NGTS 4th Annual Conference Held at Purdue University
Photo credit: Purdue University Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering
Conference returned to West Lafayette in a hybrid format with 16 universities participating.
Purdue University hosted the 4th Annual Conference on Next Generation Transportation Systems (NGTS-4) on Sept 21st and 22nd, 2024 at the Purdue Discovery Park District, West Lafayette. The conference, themed “The Future of Travel – Leveraging AI and Advanced Analytics,” had a hybrid format (in-person and virtual), and brought together researchers, professionals, and experts in the transportation industry to share their knowledge and ideas related to the theme.
The average daily participation size was 51 people from 16 universities, 5 companies, and 2 agencies. There were 7 plenary or keynote speeches by eminent academics and practitioners, 18 lectern presentations, 14 poster presentations, and 3 autonomous-vehicle exhibitions (small-scale land and air vehicles). Professor Arvind Raman, the Dean of the College of Engineering (photo) gave the welcome address, where he urged the younger generation to prepare adequately for the next generation of transportation systems technology.
Professor Mohamed Razi Nalim gave a presentation on the new NSF Center for Electrified and Automated Trucking. His collaborators include Drs. Yaobin Chen and Cliff Campbell of Purdue University. CEAT is an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The center’s mission is to address challenges faced by the freight, logistics, and original equipment manufacturing-related industries in the areas of electrification, automated operation, supply chain, and human factors. Some of the challenges the center intends to address include technician and driver shortage and training, driver fatigue, regulations, crash causalities, supply chain delays/disruptions, electric charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure, fuel price fluctuations, electric vehicle durability and safety, real-world testing and validation of systems, emissions regulations.