Volpe's 2015 Reports

Volpe published 68 reports and conference papers in 2015 spanning a myriad of transportation research topics. View the 2015 research topic areas and download copies of Volpe’s transportation resources.

Volpe Looks Forward…and Toward Its Next Director

In 2016, Volpe will take action on six emerging issues: advanced automation and emerging technologies; breakthroughs in safety; data analytics, visualization, and real-time decision making; transportation energy and sustainability; transportation system resiliency; and on-demand mobility, smart...

Inside TRB’s New Policy Research on the Transportation Sharing Economy

TRB Executive Director Neil Pedersen discussed a new study that addresses a number of policy issues associated with technology-enabled transportation services, such as car-sharing and bike-sharing microtransit services, and transportation network companies, such as Uber and Lyft.

Realizing Self-Driving Vehicles

Eventually, self-driving vehicles will reshape the way we live in, and move through, our communities and cities. In his talk at Volpe, Director of Google's Self-Driving Car Program Chris Urmson shared stories and lessons, along with Google’s vision for how these vehicles will become a...

Innovation: It’s More Than a Buzzword

Earth-shattering innovations rarely happen in a vacuum. From Sputnik to Apollo 11, the Model T to self-driving cars, every transportation technology that challenged us to rethink mobility rose out of entire teams of engineers and designers who bucked convention. Ken Gabriel, president and...

Re-Programming Mobility 2030: Scenarios of Digital Transformation in Metropolitan America

Anthony Townsend, senior research scientist at New York University’s Rudin Center, discussed the signals of our increasingly programmable world and examined mobility in an age of programmability, identifying four broad scenarios for America’s transportation future.

Shaping Rail’s Future in the Northeast

Industry Disruption: How Connectivity Is Redefining Personal Mobility

In his talk for Volpe's speaker series Reimagining Transportation, Harry Lightsey, executive director of the Global Connected Customer Experience for General Motors, identified four foundational changes happening in the auto industry that are connecting vehicles to each other, to infrastructure...

Making the Case for New Maritime Training Vessels

MARAD maintains a fleet of U.S. Government-owned vessels to train merchant marine officer candidates and support other federal agencies in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts. Based on a Volpe analysis, MARAD concluded that three of these ships will no longer be operational if no...

Reducing Light-Duty Vehicle Energy Use and GHG Emissions

John Heywood, who spoke as part of Volpe’s Reimagining Transportation series, identifies three themes for transportation professionals working on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.