ITS-Davis Policy Collaborative

AI. This serves as a cross-cutting body that works across all topical liaisons, including Cap and Trade; EVs/ZEVs; Land Use, VMT, and Equity; Low-Carbon Fuels; Multimodalism and Transit (including Bike and Pedestrian); Road Pricing and Road User Charges; Freight; and Automation. The liaison supports the integration of AI considerations - including safety and robustness, transparency and explainability, data governance and privacy, bias and equity, accountability, and real-world deployment risks - into each policy area, facilitating coordination, shared learning, and consistency across liaison activities. Other activities include direct engagement with policy makers through meetings, testimony, and public comments, and the development of plain-language resources and outreach efforts that promote safe, human-centered adoption of autonomous systems.

Automation. This includes issues related to ground and advanced air mobility automation, with a strong focus on human–machine interaction, safety, trust, and public acceptance and adoption of autonomous systems, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data to understand how people interact with and perceive these technologies. This topic includes modeling and analysis related to policy systems used to support and guide deployment, such as vehicle safety regulations. We work with other research groups inside and outside of ITS - including researchers studying public attitudes and acceptance dynamics and broader mobility futures programs that explore the systemic implications of automation - to help ensure that models and policy analyses appropriately account for constraints imposed by the need to ensure safe, inclusive, and cost-effective deployment of autonomous systems. 

Broader Climate Policy. This focuses on climate policies beyond the transportation sector that may influence or create opportunities for transportation research and engagement. The topic area monitors the California cap-and-trade program and developments across the California Climate Investments portfolio, with particular attention to program design, evaluation practices, and long-term policy direction. Activities include tracking regulatory changes, participating in public meetings and comment periods convened by the California Air Resources Board and other state agencies, and connecting with agency and policy staff to hold briefings and respond to inquiries. The group also coordinates with partners across the University of California and state agencies to better understand how transportation systems intersect with natural lands, energy, agriculture, and other policies. Through this work, the topic area helps ensure the Policy Collaborative remains positioned to contribute research insights to cross-sector policy discussions.

Fuel Technology & Policy. This includes issues related to petroleum fuels, as well as more sustainable alternative technologies like biofuels, electricity, hydrogen, etc. This topic includes modeling and analysis related to policy systems using to support and guide deployment, such as California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, as well as associated markets or regulatory systems. We work with other research groups inside and outside of ITS to help ensure that models and policy analyses appropriately account for constraints imposed by the need to ensure a stable and cos-effective fuel supply. Other activities include direct engagement with policy makers through direct meetings, testimony, public comments, and plain-language publications as well as educating the public on these issues.