Mathematical performance guarantees for shared autonomous vehicle dispatch

By Michael Levin on 03/13/2025 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in 1611 Titan Dr., Rantoul, IL 61866

Join Michael Levin of the University of Minnesota as he presents via Zoom at the Spring 2025 Kent Seminar Series Thursday, March 13, from 2-3 p.m. (CT).

The Spring 2025 semester is set to feature 14 presentations, each addressing a topic related to autonomy in transportation. See the full lineup of speakers for Spring 2025 semester.

Pizza and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the ICT Classroom. 

All presentations will be held on Zoom, but some speakers will present in person at ICT.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://illinois.zoom.us/j/89890781073?pwd=CewiD3535GNiWvliWpS6nqBksMqnAE.1 

Meeting ID: 898 9078 1073
Passcode: 116680

Abstract and Bio

Shared autonomous vehicles are now providing public services in several cities, but a key challenge remains: how to efficiently dispatch individual vehicles to waiting customers. Optimal dispatching must account for both current demand and uncertainty in near-term future demand, making the problem complex. This talk proposes a novel approach using a Markov decision process to explicitly address uncertainty. Instead of computationally solving the model, the derived policies offer mathematical performance guarantees to overcome the curse of dimensionality.

Levin is an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013 and 2017, respectively. His research focuses on traffic flow and network modeling for connected autonomous vehicles and intelligent transportation systems.