Transportation is an important infrastructure for our society. It is time to propose a new transportation scheme for resolving the increasing transportation problems. In responding to social needs, MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories established the Intelligent Transportation Research Center (ITRC) in September 1998 as a contact point of industry, government, and academia for ITS research and development. 

ITRC focuses on the key Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies, including an integrated network of transportation information, automatic crash & incident detection, notification and response, advanced crash avoidance technology, advanced transportation monitoring and management, etc., in order to improve the safety, security, efficiency, mobile access, and environment. There are two emphasis for research conduced in the center:

• The integration of component technology research and system design research. 

• The integration of technical possibilities and social needs. 

ITRC proposes the incremental conversion and development process from current to near and far future systems and develops enabling key components in collaboration with the government, industries, and other institutions. Other necessary steps are the integration of technical, social, economical, and political aspects. The integration of the Intelligent Transportation Systems in different countries is also essential. The integration of vehicles, roads, and other modes of transportation, such as railways and public buses, are all imperative.

These integrations are fulfilled with the cooperation of researchers in various fields, including the Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL), the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI), the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS), the Age Laboratory, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Sloan School of Management. The research center has 8 MIT faculty and several visiting professors and scientists. The director of the center is Dr. Ichiro Masaki.

Research

The research in the Intelligent Transportation Research Center (ITRC) is recognized at both the national and international levels for its excellence. MIT ITRC has developed the following important subsystems or component technologies that receive strong positive feedback. Research members have been invited to give many information talks in various circumstances, and have won several important international awards and honors, including the Member of National Academy of Engineering (Details>>>).