Faculty , students and staff affiliated with the University of Florida’s Transportation Institute (UFTI) and the STRIDE Center ( the U.S. Department of Transportation grant-funded regional University Transportation Center, or UTC, housed at the UFTI) attended the 2019 Autonomous Vehicles Symposium (AVS2019) in Orlando, Fla., July 15 – 18, 2019.

Dr. Lily Elefteriadou, director of the UFTI and STRIDE Center, presented her work on "Traffic Signal Control in the Era of Connected Automation - Emerging Concepts” and Dr. Pruthvi Manjunatha, a post-doctoral researcher with UFTI, presented on the Gainesville Autonomous Shuttle. Doctoral Candidate Aschkan Omdivar showcased his work on “Optimizing Freeway Merge Operations under Conventional and Automated Vehicle Traffic” during the STRIDE Student Poster Session. The STRIDE-sponsored student poster session featured more than 20 posters from students working on transportation-related research, and these were on display for symposium attendees in the exhibits area. The UFTI also had a booth in the exhibits area, where information was provided on I-STREET. I-STREET is the UFTI’s test bed program that develops, evaluates, and deploys various advanced technologies including connected and autonomous vehicles, smart devices , and sensors on the streets of Gainesville, Fla., and on the UF campus.

The Student Transportation Construction Industry Video Contest is aimed at helping students gain a better understanding of the importance of transportation infrastructure investment to the U.S. economy and quality of life, and to learn more about the industry and potential career opportunities. ARTBA’s Research & Education Division (RED) sponsors the contest and has two submission categories: general transportation impacts, trends and/or funding; and transportation safety.

The contest is divided into two age groups: elementary, middle or high school students; and post-secondary, college and graduate students. Each winner receives a cash prize and winning entries may be shown during ARTBA’s annual National Convention.

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UFTI Director Dr. Lily Elefteriadou presented at the Brookings Institution's "Autonomous cars: Science, technology, and policy" conference in Washington, D.C., on July 25th alongside UFTI affiliates Dr. Carl Crane, Dr. Sherrilene Classen and Dr. Sanjay Ranka. The topic of their panel was "Autonomous Vehicles, Traffic and Humans."

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