Smart Mobility Lab: ICT's new hub for autonomous vehicle research

Illinois Center for Transportation is opening the Smart Mobility Lab in fall 2024, a facility dedicated to research in connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, both surface and aerial. The Rantoul facility will provide a specialized environment for developing, testing and validating smart mobility technologies.

“We are excited to announce the addition of 9,000 square feet of lab space dedicated to smart mobility,” said ICT Director Imad Al-Qadi. “This state-of-the-art facility, which includes several instrumented vehicles, will focus on the instrumentation and testing of autonomous and connected vehicles. Additionally, the new space will include office and conference room areas to support our ongoing projects and collaborative efforts.”

The Smart Mobility Lab will offer a large, controllable ambient environment and advanced infrastructure that will support the development, testing and validation of various algorithms. Its strategic proximity to Rantoul, a rural community, as well as Interstate 57, the Rantoul Airport and a major north-south rail corridor make the facility suitable for a wide range of experiments.

Research by Grainger College of Engineering professors is already underway at the Smart Mobility Lab. Alireza Talebpour, assistant professor and ICT mobility autonomy lead, is promoting safe autonomy in rural communities by integrating vehicle- and infrastructure-based sensing and communications. Talebpour’s work addresses the critical need for safe and efficient transportation solutions in rural areas, where traditional infrastructure may be lacking.

Yanfeng Ouyang, George Krambles Endowed Professor and ICT Associate Director for Mobility, is conducting drone crowd delivery experiments to demonstrate how traffic routing model solutions can minimize aerial traffic congestion.

The new facility complements ICT’s existing 60,000 square feet for transportation research and testing on the decommissioned Chanute Air Force Base. The Smart Mobility Lab will eventually be integrated with the planned Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track (I-ACT).

For more information about the Smart Mobility Lab and ongoing research projects, please contact Talebpour or Ouyang or email ICT Communications.