Future Transport Research Group
About us
Given that our world is built around the movement of people and goods, the economic and social importance of transport for residents and businesses is clear. Different countries and cities have different transport systems, influenced by the urban and rural environments and vice versa. Transport supply consists of transport infrastructure and transport services, while demand consists of passenger and freight transport demand.
In recent years, transport systems have seen considerable change:
- car sharing services like GoGet have influenced car ownership
- ride hailing services like Uber have had a profound impact on point-to-point travel and taxi policies
- the arrival of dockless bicycle services such as oBike and ReddyGo have been embraced as well as opposed
- electric vehicles require entirely new charging infrastructures
- novel unified payment mechanisms like our Opal card allow new opportunities for transport businesses, in particular through the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service where transport service providers organise door-to-door travel for customers
Changes in the transport system are expected to accelerate in the coming decade(s) due to the imminent arrival of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). There is a shared view in the research community that this will be a major disruption in the transport domain. All major car manufacturers as well as large tech companies are developing CAVs. Automated vehicles are essentially robots with a variety of sensors that take over the steering task, while connected vehicles communicate with other vehicles as well as infrastructure.
Our people
Meet our academics, members and researchers.
- Professor Michiel Bliemer
- Professor Michael Bell
- Professor David Levinson
Our events
Latest Future Transport news
Our collaboration
- Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS)
- Transport engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies
- Urbanism, School of Architecture, Design and Planning
- Australian Centre for Field Robotics, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies
- TransportLab
We collaborate with external partners via the Transport Research Association of NSW, which also includes Transport for NSW, UTS and the University of New South Wales.