Harnessing Autonomous Vehicles for Smarter Traffic Management

This seminar explores how autonomous vehicles can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency across multiple transportation scenarios. Presented by Ruolin Li from USC on May 2, 2025, the one-hour talk examines highway on-ramps, vehicle routing in networks, and toll lane usage to demonstrate innovative models capturing the complex dynamics between human-driven and autonomous vehicles. Learn about control strategies that optimize autonomous vehicles' potential while preventing adverse exploitation, and understand why well-designed deployment policies are crucial for ensuring autonomous mobility benefits society at large. The presenter, Ruolin Li, is a Gabilan Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at USC whose research focuses on active control of autonomous vehicles in mixed-autonomy environments using game theory, multi-agent systems, and optimization. Before joining USC, she completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University and earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, receiving recognition as a Rising Star in both Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.