NYC V2X & AI Symposium confirms C2SMARTER’s place as a vital hub of transportation research

C2SMARTER, NYU Tandon’s U.S. DOT Tier 1 University Transportation Center, took center stage at the NYC V2X & AI Symposium, where government officials, industry experts, and academic researchers gathered to discuss the future of connected vehicle technology and its potential to transform New York City's streets.

Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation Ydanis Rodríguez, who spoke at the event, emphasized the scale of the city’s transportation network (which encompasses over 44,000 intersections across 6,000 miles of streets) and the critical role innovative technologies like V2X and AI will play in managing congestion, improving safety, and creating a more efficient, sustainable urban infrastructure for millions of New Yorkers.

Vehicle-to-Everything [V2X] refers to the exchange of digital information between vehicles and the world around them — connections between vehicles, pedestrians, infrastructure and networks. The technology allows for a wide range of roadway safety solutions and automotive features, and, as an ITS America report asserts, “V2X technologies are anticipated to play an integral role in the continued improvement of automotive transportation and infrastructure in the 21st century.”

Rodriguez wasn’t the only prominent speaker at the Symposium: the event gathered experts from various sectors, including Robert R. Limoges from the New York State Department of Transportation, Brian Cronin from the U.S. DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, and Timothy Drake from ITS America. 

While “V2X technology won’t solve every problem we have,” Cronin said during his address, he emphasized that it is a big part of the solution in reducing traffic accidents, increasing pedestrian safety, and transporting goods and people efficiently. 

Dr. Kaan Ozbay, Director of C2SMARTER and Professor in Civil and Urban Engineering at NYU Tandon, opened the first day of the symposium with a keynote address, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between public agencies, private industry, and academic research in advancing transportation technologies. Dr. Ozbay’s introduction set the tone for discussions on the current and future impact of V2X and AI on New York City’s streets.

He later went on to moderate a critical session on “AI Implementation in Transportation Systems,” during which industry leaders and researchers explored how it is being applied to solve real-world transportation challenges. Each panelist discussed different facets of how AI, in conjunction with V2X technologies, is reshaping road safety and traffic management.

The second day of the symposium delved deeper into the technical advancements in V2X and AI. Professor Eugene Vinitsky of C2SMARTER, an Assistant Professor in Civil and Urban Engineering at NYU Tandon, showcased his team’s innovative work in using reinforcement learning to enhance the evaluation of V2X technologies. Vinitsky highlighted that existing methods for evaluating V2X solutions often fall short because they lack detailed models of human behavior, which are essential to understanding the impact of these systems on traffic congestion and energy efficiency. To address this, he proposed drawing upon reinforcement learning to model human behavior by incorporating large-scale collected human data. He also revealed that his team has developed a new simulator, capable of running reinforcement learning at the scale of billions of timesteps, providing a more sophisticated and accurate assessment of V2X technology in real-world scenarios.

The symposium was a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing transportation technologies. Researchers, government officials, and industry leaders all agreed on the importance of creating safer, smarter, and more resilient urban environments through the use of V2X and AI.