GRK 1931:  SocialCars - Cooperative (De-)Centralised Traffic Management

• Subject Area: Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Systems Engineering
• Term: from 2014 to 2023
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 227198829

The overall objective of the SocialCars Research Training Group (RTG) is to investigate new methods and applications of cooperative traffic management that are enabled by including new technological trends and developments such as Car-to-X communication or automated driving. SocialCars focuses on the interplay of centralized management in the sense of classical traffic control, and decentralized management in the sense of the local goals of individual traffic participants. In order to study this interplay while considering both the requirements of traffic participants and the constraints of the urban environment, we propose six fields of research, in which we investigate novel and interdisciplinary research questions. We study problems related to behavioural aspects of traffic participants, societal and management objectives, technical and algorithmic foundations of communication, interaction, and dynamic geo-information, as well as models and methods of cooperative, (de)centralized traffic management. The interdisciplinary approach will enable us to realistically describe dynamic cooperative traffic systems, and to evolve and optimize such systems in accordance with societal objectives. The focus of the second funding period of SocialCars is on addressing challenges that arise when considering the implications of automated mixed traffic scenarios and novel mobility services for dynamic traffic management. Here, the core question is how the interplay of local and global (city-wide) control and coordination strategies should be designed to ensure sustainable, safe, and efficient urban traffic. The subject-specific competences of the participating professors provide excellent coverage of the six fields of research, from traffic management over dynamic geoinformation systems and communication technology to modelling distributed decisionmaking, coordination, and cooperation. SocialCars offers an ambitious but realistic qualification programme, which is tailored to the interdisciplinary character of the RTG. The primary location of the doctoral students is the research building of the Automotive Research Center Niedersachsen (NFF), where they are part of an inspiring environment with a wide range of academic and industrial competences from renowned colleagues working in the areas of mobility, traffic, and automotive engineering. At the same time, the students retain their basis and workspace at their ‘home’ institutes, which serves to foster their embedding in their own discipline. This substantially expands the doctoral qualification opportunities for the participating universities and the whole region.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Co-Applicant Institution: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover; Technische Universität Clausthal
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Friedrich
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr.-Ing. Markus Fidler; Professor Dr. Dirk Christian Mattfeld; Professor Dr. Jörg P. Müller; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Monika Sester; Professor Dr. Mark Vollrath