This special edition of A Note from Neeli first appeared on Penn State’s social media. Subscribe to our channel on YouTube for more behind-the-scenes footage of Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi’s visit to the Larson Transportation Institute Test Track.
To the Penn State community,
Earlier this summer, I hopped in a car with an engineering professor and his students to cruise the Larson Transportation Institute Test Track. I was excited to see the vehicle was entirely self-driving, powered by Penn State research that’s helping to guide the future of transportation.
Watch the behind-the-scenes video above to see the autonomous vehicle demonstration I experienced with Andrew Read, senior vice president for research, and Tonya Peeples, the Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering.
An autonomous vehicle, or self-driving car, is able to use technology to detect its surroundings — including road conditions, physical obstacles, traffic, cyclists and pedestrians — and, importantly, navigate and adjust its speed without human intervention. While driverless cars offer a range of potential benefits, such as reducing traffic congestion and accidents and making "driving" accessible to more people, understanding how to support this innovation safely and ethically is a primary focus of the work being done here at Penn State.
After my day at the Test Track, it’s clear to me that Penn State is and will play a role in making autonomous vehicles a safe and readily available option across the country and around the world. This is a formidable challenge — it demands synergy and connections between engineers, psychologists, data scientists and many others to understand the billions of decisions we make while driving and to ultimately design a vehicle to do the same.
I’m so proud that we have the strategic advantages to make it happen with our nationally renowned facilities, innovative collaborations and most importantly, our dedicated faculty, staff and students.
The track I visited, a one-mile loop with a durability testing course, is one of only 10 autonomous vehicle proving grounds in the nation. As the track’s interim director, Vikash Gayah, explained to me, this means Penn State researchers aren't limited to theoretical work in a lab — they can test their findings and tech in a controlled environment and get one step closer to impacting how we navigate the world.
In the video above, see how Xianbiao "XB" Hu, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and graduate students Yuxin Ding and Chenxi Chen use the Test Track for their research. Hu’s research focuses on the dynamics of transportation systems and travelers’ behavioral adaptations when using emerging transportation technologies through model development and data analysis. Hu and other co-investigators are currently working with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to analyze the impact of a new legislative act that allows highly automated vehicles to drive in Pennsylvania and recommend any potential policy changes.
Along with Hu, Penn State researchers at the Larson Transportation Institute — including a number of undergraduate and graduate students — are working to address critical transportation-related needs and develop solutions to challenges through multidisciplinary research focused on everything from crash-safety to federal bus testing and more. In fact, this track is the only facility trusted by the Federal Transit Administration to test every new bus model used in the United States. This critical work has led to the identification and correction of more than 10,000 design flaws. So, while this might be your first introduction to the University's pivotal role in transportation research, the efforts of our faculty, staff and students have undoubtedly contributed to your safety when using public transit.
This experience felt like a glimpse into the future — one where our interdisciplinary research enterprise helps make self-driving cars possible and public transportation even safer.
I want to thank the faculty, staff and students at the Test Track for welcoming me and taking the time to share their innovative work. I hope the rest of this summer offers them, and our entire community, a chance to recharge and reflect. I’m looking forward to connecting with even more of you in the fall!
We Are,
Neeli