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On November 19th, the Transportation Research Institute will launch the TATWEER Research Chair about “AI-Powered Automated Enforcement in Smart Cities: Balanced Safety, Efficiency and Privacy.” 

The core of this chair focuses on the crucial intersection of technology, law, and public acceptance. The research aims for a fundamental reassessment of current traffic enforcement systems. Instead of merely reacting to violations, the chair’s ambition is to develop next-generation systems that are proactive, intelligent, and socially responsible.

Imran Nawaz's  PhD research investigated how gamified digital education can enhance adolescent road safety. Road traffic accidents are among the leading causes of death for adolescents worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where formal road safety education is often inadequate or absent. Therefore, a gamified online learning platform was developed and evaluated to strengthen adolescents’ competencies in four key domains: traffic knowledge, situation awareness, risk detection, and risk management.

The School of Transportation Sciences has awarded an honorary doctorate to Lotte Brondum, director of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, an alliance of more than 400 NGOs from over 100 different countries, all concerned with road safety. These NGOs are mainly locally based and often founded after a dramatic accident, with the aim of making traffic safer in their area.

Dimitrios Zavantis' PhD dissertation is entitled ‘Automatic accident detection and notification system using IoT-based vehicular environment and an internet of smart(speed)-cameras for traffic lights optimization’. The research highlights the importance of rapid emergency response. While some accidents are unavoidable due to human error, timely intervention can reduce the severity of injuries and save lives.

Hana Gharrad's doctoral thesis is entitled “Multi-Dimensional Internet of Drones Framework for City Application”. Her research presents a new way for drones to work together as a team and explores how drones can follow rules and interact properly with real-world transport vehicles.

In his PhD, Tufail Ahmed explores how bicycle infrastructure can be assessed to enhance the cycling experience in urban areas. With growing urbanization and environmental concerns, improving cycling conditions has become more important than ever. 

In his PhD, Wondwesen Girma Mamo investigated the driving behaviour of autistic individuals in Qatar and developed a training booklet for driving instructors. Autism develops early and can limit independence. Many autistic individuals depend on family for transportation. Learning to drive can increase their independence and quality of life, but autism-related challenges often delay or hinder their chances of obtaining a driver’s license.

In his PhD, Muhammad Wisal Khattak focused on developing safety performance functions (SPFs), also known as crash prediction models, for urban roads in Flanders. SPFs are statistical models that predict the crash frequency of a given location. To do so, they quantify the relationship between observed crashes and predictor variables related to traffic, the geometric design features of the road, and the environment for a specific time period. 

Wednesday June 5th was World Environment Day and also i-Change Day! IMOB is a partner of this ongoing H2020 citizen science project and manages the Hasselt Living Lab. We organised a workshop for citizens living in the Hasselt Living Lab, introducing them to the project and the problems of climate change in our own environment.

How can we reduce the number of traffic violations and accidents? That's what the Transportation Research Institute (IMOB) has been looking for innovative solutions to for years. With the launch of the Vitronic Research Chair on 15 May, they are taking it one step further. By combining gamification strategies with advanced AI technologies, IMOB aims to improve both the enforcement of traffic rules, and driver behaviour.

The Transportation Research Institute will launch the VITRONIC Research Chair about 'Automated Enforcement' On May 15th. The increasing rate of traffic violations and accidents globally demands innovative solutions beyond conventional punitive measures.

This VITRONIC research chair will explore a novel integration of gamification strategies with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to address this issue.

The PhD research by Hoang Nam Le aims to develop, implement and evaluate a gamified e-learning platform named Route2school Education (developed by the Transportation Research Institute of Hasselt University) to promote (motor)cycling-related traffic knowledge, situation awareness, risk detection, and risk management among adolescents in Vietnam.