Dr. Jiaqi Ma is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a faculty fellow at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His research includes vehicle-highway automation, cooperative driving automation (CDA), Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), large-scale smart system modeling and simulation, and artificial intelligence and advanced computing applications for automated transportation.
How does your work align with the mission of PAVE to educate the public on AV technology and its promise?
Our work has been focusing on understanding and demonstrating how connected and unconnected automated vehicles impact transportation efficiency, safety, and sustainability. This work generates foundational materials for public outreach and education.
What challenges do you see in improving public education about automated vehicles? How can we address those challenges?
A mixture of information quality and lack of direct access to automated vehicle technologies have resulted in significant challenges in improving public education about automated vehicles. Expanding the scope of engagement with stakeholders and other public groups, making accurate education materials available, and increasing the number of public demonstration and pilot projects can potentially address the challenges.
