Oklahoma State University awarded $4M for autonomous vehicle research
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Media Contact: Desa James | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-2669 | desa.james@okstate.edu
Dr. Joshua Li, associate professor for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and his team have been awarded $4 million as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Rural Autonomous Vehicles program.
The proposal, titled “Tribal & Rural Autonomous Vehicles for Equity, Livability, and Safety (TRAVELS),” aims to implement efficient, sustainable AV solutions for rural and tribal communities.
With a total budget of $15 million, the TRAVELS program focuses on addressing the unique transportation needs and challenges of rural and tribal communities. Led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, OSU holds the second-largest share of the budget at $4 million, with an additional $4 million made available through matching funds: approximately $2 million from AV partners and the remaining amount through in-kind support.
The TRAVELS program's objective is to create a model for rural and tribal areas, which face numerous transportation-related challenges compared to urban areas.
Li’s team focuses on automated infrastructure evaluation and management to enhance transportation mobility and safety through advanced sensors and data analytics. Their multidisciplinary expertise includes automated infrastructure condition assessment, sensor instrumentation and data automation, connected and autonomous transportation, transportation safety, driving behaviors analysis and simulation, and big data analytics.
Leveraging this expertise, Li’s team will play a key role in this project by focusing on infrastructure preparedness, along with the operational aspects of autonomous transportation. This includes physical infrastructure, such as roadways, lane markings and traffic signage, as well as communication infrastructure networks, such as V2X applications and connected vehicle systems. Additionally, the team will contribute to developing digital twins and high-definition maps, which are critical for AV deployment in rural and tribal areas that often lack such resources.
“There are many rural and tribal residents around the country who are unable to access medical and health resources due to lack of reliable transportation to community centers,” said Dr. Ed Kirtley, associate dean of engineering extension. “The project will result in tangible products, including the demonstration and deployment of AV services that directly benefit these communities.”
The project will be carried out in three two-year phases:
- Research Phase: This phase focuses on understanding transportation challenges, as well as the technical (e.g., physical infrastructure compliance and conditions, availability of high-definition maps for AVs, and communication infrastructure) and sociological challenges of deploying AVs in rural and tribal communities. Additionally, research will be conducted to address the gaps necessary for the demonstration and deployment phases.
- Demonstration Phase: This phase will involve selecting key AV services for trial operations, integrating research findings to assess feasibility and identifying real-world challenges and solutions for deployment.
- Deployment Phase: This phase will focus on full-scale service implementation at selected locations, including workforce development, user education and other critical components for sustainable AV operations.
"Nineteen percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, and almost a quarter of all Americans aged 65 and older reside in rural communities,” according to the USDOT. “Yet, 47% of all roadway fatalities and 34% of all public highway-rail grade crossing fatalities occur on rural roads. Emergency response times are more than twice as long in rural areas as compared to urban areas."
This collaborative project is working to address these problems and more by developing and operating multi-modal AV with interoperable and weather-resilient backbone connectivity.
Considering the challenges and gaps of transportation in rural and tribal communities, the team will work with AV industry partners and consider the deployment of transportation services using AV fleet, such as:
- Health care and on-demand rapid AV service to reduce waiting times and fill off-hour service gaps.
- Low-cost public cross-jurisdiction AV to complement existing transit services and improve job access and workforce development.
- Tourist and special events AV service to provide last-mile connection, alleviating parking pressure and increasing visitor attraction.
“This project goes beyond research — it will result in tangible products that directly benefit rural and tribal communities,” Li said.
Li’s research has received funding across various transportation modes — including highways, rail and airports — from prestigious agencies such as the USDOT, Federal Highway Administration, National Academy of Sciences, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, Southern Plains Transportation Center and numerous state departments of transportation nationwide.
"Oklahoma has around 35% of the population in rural areas, and we have 39 tribal nations in the state,” Le said. “Close to 70% of the highway lane miles are in rural areas. This project is crucial for improving transportation safety and accessibility in these regions."
The success of this project is attributed to the significant support from various stakeholders. The TRAVELS consortium includes seven academic institutions, five industry leaders in multi-modal AV technologies and 34 transportation agencies.
“This has been a team effort, and we received significant support from CEAT, the Vice President for Research Office, and several colleagues,” Li said. “We would also like to extend our special thanks to our federal delegates, the Oklahoma DOT, several regional transportation planning organizations (RTPOs), and tribal nations such as the Choctaw and Cherokee, among others. This achievement would not have been possible without their support, given the intense national competition.
"We are very fortunate to work with a strong team led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, joined by the University of Georgia, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, University of Washington, Morgan State University, and Northern Oklahoma College. This project is a testament to our collective expertise and commitment to advancing autonomous transportation."
