University of Florida Transportation Institute Revolutionizes Transportation Technology Through Grand Opening of Its $2M I-STREET™ Living Lab
The University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI), housed in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, announced the grand opening of its I-STREET™ Living Lab on Friday. Guests from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the City of Gainesville (COG) Transportation Department, and key industry partners joined UF leaders in commemorating the opening.
The event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, an engaging video presentation, and a tour of the $2 million, 4,300-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility.
I-STREET™ stands for Implementing Solutions from Transportation Research and Evaluation of Emerging Technologies. As a living lab on the UF campus, it connects surrounding roadway networks on the UF campus, the COG, and across the state using various cutting-edge technologies.
I-STREET™ technologies include connected vehicle infrastructure (roadside units that communicate through direct radio communication with onboard units installed inside selected vehicles), sensors, cameras, lidars and radars, autonomous vehicles/shuttles, driving simulators, eye-tracking devices, bike sensors, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and pedestrian safety devices such as rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), passive pedestrian detection devices (PPDs), and the Travel Safely app. Additional features of the living lab include:
- A 2,000-square-foot student village workspace and traffic monitoring area
- A 1,140-square-foot three-bay vehicle lab and garage
- A 500-square-foot traffic and signals lab
Speakers at the event included Lily Elefteriadou, professor and director of the UFTI and the I-STREET™ LivingLab; Alina Zare, professor and associate dean for research and facilities at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering; Trey Tillander, PE, executive director of transportation technology at FDOT, and Jesus Gomez, M.S., director of transportation, the COG.
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