State-of-the-Art Evaluation Tools

We focused on the development of improved simulation capabilities using Big Data and Machine Learning techniques. We use SimMobility which was developed in MIT and designed to serve as the nexus of Future Mobility research evaluations. SimMobility integrates and links together various mobility-sensitive behavioral models with state-of-the art simulators to predict the impact of mobility demands on transportation networks, intelligent transportation services and vehicular emissions.  We are using these capabilities and develop new ones to simulate the effects of a portfolio of technology, policy, and investment options under alternative future scenarios from second-by-second to year-by-year simulations, across entire cities. In the last three years, we have been modeling the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in SimMobility, we have developed the synthetic population, estimated, built and calibrated the demand models and the supply models for the study area using various Big-Data sources. Apart from the significant implementation effort, we have developed new capabilities for modeling micro-mobility, calculating energy consumption and emissions of a variety of pollutants given different vehicle type and propulsion and modeling supply-demand interactions, which are missing in most simulation tools. In addition, as part of our collaboration with Aimsun team under Aimsun Ride Research Program, we combined SimMobility with Aimsun so that an activity-based demand generation will be possible instead of the traditional 4-step model that exists today in Aimsun