Research Idea Details

Research Idea Scope

Heavy on-road vehicle freight transportation is a significant contributor of green house gas and other pollutant emissions.  Much work has been done to reduce emissions through mandated changes in vehicle technologies however a significant overlooked factor in vehicle emissions per ton mile of freight moved is driver behavior.  

This project will determine if simulator based driver training can significantly reduce vehicle emisssions by changing heavy vehicle driver behavior.  The project will collect fuel consumption data from a control group of drivers before and after simulator based training and correlate collected data to emissions per ton mile of freight moved.  

The research project will be conducted by California State University Leonard Transportation Center, a Tier II Dept. of Transportation University Transportation Research Center in partnership with the National Advanced Driving Simulator at University of Iowa.

Urgency and Payoff

The research will establish potential benefits of training as another means to achieve significant reductions in goods movement based green house gas and other pollutant emissions.