Center for Transportation Research, University of Tennessee Knoxville

Our Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab is making big strides towards exposing more Tennessee middle schoolers to advanced transportation technology and career pathways.
Thank you to the media representatives who came an joined us for our day with Emerald Youth Foundation students last week.

UT Program introduces East Tennessee students, teachers to transportation technology, STEM careers The Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab at the University of Tennessee connects rural students and teachers to cutting-edge transportation technologies.

CTR and Johnson University hosted the 2026 AMIL professional development camp this week, welcoming middle school educators from Newport Grammar School and Bridgeport Elementary in the Newport City School System.

These teachers spent the week diving into electric vehicles, autonomous systems, drones, and smart traffic infrastructure with the help of University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers. The Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab program has a focus on giving rural educators the tools and lesson plans needed to bring these advanced concepts back to their classrooms, opening students' eyes to high-demand careers in the transportation sector.

Throughout the week, teachers toured myTDOT operations, visited a UTK automated vehicle research lab, tested electric micromobility vehicles, and built custom EV model kits amongst presentations and brainstorming sessions.

The final day of the program ended with the teachers put their training into practice. Working alongside AMIL staff, they guided middle school students from the Emerald Youth Foundation through hands-on, interactive stations and activities. Thank you to these dedicated educators for investing their time to inspire the next generation of transportation innovators.

⬇️Take a moment to look through our photos!

A groundbreaking framework has been developed to test automated vehicle safety in high-risk rural environments. Handling everything from sudden fog and blinding glare to wildlife and faded lane markings.

By connecting a real vehicle to a digital environment using Vehicle-in-the-Loop testing, the team can safely evaluate critical steering and braking performance before deployment.

This vital work for the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) was made possible by CTR-affiliated faculty and graduate research assistants Subhadeep Chakraborty, Asad Khattak, Jagrat Patel, and Skylar Sims, alongside Shean Huff and VIL Solutions.

Watch the video to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lloa_O_8Dfw

University of Tennessee, Knoxville students! CTR has three open positions on joinhandshake.com that are each suited for different backgrounds and areas of study.

If you are a graduate or undergraduate UTK student interested in transportation planning, safety, or communications please consider applying to one or more of the following positions on the "University of Tennessee, Center for Transportation Research" brand page on Handshake:

- Teen Driver Safety Outreach Intern
- Transportation Research Ambassador
- Transportation Planning Intern

University of Tennessee, Knoxville students have been selected to participate in the EcoCAR EV Challenge under the leadership of faculty advisors Subhadeep Chakraborty—a CTR affiliated faculty member— and Pingen Chen from the University of Tennessee Mechanical, Aerospace, & Biomedical Engineering - University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alongside Hairong Qi from the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - UTK. This four-year competition is aimed at developing next-generation, energy-efficient and intelligent mobility solutions using emerging technologies.

Administered by Argonne National Laboratory, the EcoCAR Innovation Challenge is the 15th installment of the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) series. The challenge aspires to push innovation and develop the future automotive workforce.

UT was one of 20 universities from across North America selected for the latest installment of the competition, which runs from the fall of 2026 through the spring of 2030.

Knoxville Area Transit is set to make the bus route serving downtown permanently free

Looking for a more efficient way to access comprehensive crash investigations and safety data?

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) offers a powerful tool called CAROL (Case Analysis and Reporting Online), a centralized database built for deep-dive investigation reports and safety recommendations.

Whether you are analyzing infrastructure trends, writing a grant proposal, or conducting academic literature reviews, CAROL allows you to filter critical safety data to fit your exact research scope:

- Basic Search: Search using common criteria like date, location, and mode
- Aviation Search: Specialized search for aviation-specific criteria
- Custom Search: Build complex queries with advanced filtering options

Leveraging validated federal data is key to advancing transportation innovation and safety. Explore the tool to see how it can support your next research project.

View or use this tool here: my.ntsb.gov

How are Tennessee’s leading transportation planners shaping the future of regional infrastructure?

The annual Tennessee Model Users Group (TNMUG) conference in Mt. Juliet brought together experts for a high-energy "gathering of the minds" facilitated by CTR. While the rapid integration of AI in travel demand modeling sparked significant buzz, the diverse technical program also tackled long-range planning forecasts, freight logistics using Transearch data, and employment hub options. Interspersed with an interactive MPO roundtable and updates from TDOT and Geotab, 8 expert speakers shared the stage as attendees collaborated on data methodologies and state validation standards to optimize our transport systems.

We're excited to move ahead on safety improvements on Magnolia Avenue, funded by USDOT grants. Intersections at Cherry (shown), Hembree, and Castle streets have been identified as priorities due to a notably high incidence of severe crashes and pedestrian activity. We want to hear from neighbors, shoppers, workers and other visitors in this corridor.

• Take the survey online (link in first comment)
• Share your insights on where crossing dangers exist at these intersections.
• Help us prioritize the infrastructure improvements that will make you feel safe to walk and cross at the intersections.