Autonomous driving, aided by machine learning (ML), has the potential to improve safety and efficiency while reducing road congestion. However, today's autonomous vehicles (AVs) struggle under arbitrary conditions due to the complexity and variety of scenarios encountered in practice. Meanwhile, increasingly advanced driver-assist systems with partial AV capabilities have been deployed without standardized testing and certification requirements, in particular with regard to computational aspects. This work aims to fill this gap.

This Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) development project supports research that aims to enhance access to fresh, nutritious food in urban areas by designing integrated supply-side, community-driven freight systems and urban agriculture models that scale into economically viable urban food logistics networks. This initiative aims to establish urban agriculture as a vital component of infrastructure, enhancing the availability of food for everyone.

Agriculture is under increasing pressure from shifting weather patterns, more frequent flooding, and temperature extremes that threaten traditional crops and rural livelihoods. This project explores a promising alternative: introducing rice farming to the region. Rice is naturally suited to wetter conditions and offers a way for farmers to diversify their operations while strengthening their resilience. By establishing two regional rice hubs and a research and development site, the project supports a sustainable and community-centered approach to growing rice in temperate areas.

The objective of this Smart & Connected Communities - Development Grants (SCC-DG) project is to support research on co-design of bike networks that are safe, connected, and aligned with local needs. Cities struggle to design bikeways that balance technical constraints, safety considerations, lived realities, and aspirations of their citizens. This project explores how advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) bridge the gap by integrating community input directly into the design process.

The objective of this Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) project is to support research on prototyping, deploying, and testing data-driven analytics to improve efficiency, availability, and affordability of carshare services. The Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota launched the EV Spot Network in collaboration with HOURCAR, the largest nonprofit carshare provider in the US. The EV Spot Network provides publicly owned electric vehicle carshare and chargers. The service is projected to grow significantly over the next three years.

This research will advance community priorities in the areas of safety, security, and human health and wellness pertaining to existing and future neural implant devices. The team includes computer scientists, electrical engineers, MDs, neuroscientists, neural implant community groups, and manufacturers. The partner community groups include patients and their supporting families and caregivers from whom the team will understand the personal impact of neural implant technologies.

This multi-disciplinary project aims to promote better data governance practices and bolster trust through the development of a Data Management Platform in Long Beach, Calif. The Platform is designed to support community access to information generated by smart city technologies.

Urban trees play a critical role in shaping healthy, resilient communities—providing shade, improving air quality, reducing flood risk, and enhancing public well-being. Yet, during extreme weather events such as windstorms, hurricanes, and ice storms, trees can become significant hazards, causing power outages, infrastructure damage, and safety risks. Currently, there is no reliable, proactive system for identifying high-risk trees and integrating that information into local planning.

The objective of this Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) project is to support research on developing and piloting 3D digital models of homes for simulating how extreme heat behaves indoors and outdoors. Built out of collaboration with local households, these models look to help identify areas most affected by heat and allow testing of different solutions, such as shading, ventilation, or material upgrades. Extreme heat is one of the deadliest natural hazards in the United States, and its impacts are intensifying due to urban expansion.

The objective of this project is to support research on creating, implementing, and testing a novel online serious game on emergency response. Iowa State University (ISU) and Polk County Emergency Management (PCEM) in Iowa collaboratively develop the Disaster Multiplayer Online Game (DMOG). Emergency response is a complex process, involving multiple organizations and decision makers with different roles and responsibilities, objectives, and resources.