Twitter Page

"Research, Educate, Integrate, and Accelerate"

Facebook Page

CATES Appearances

December 2, 2016, Advanced Transportation Technologies Conference, all-day, Meydenbauer Center, downtown Bellevue.

May 19, 2016, Washington Policy Center Solutions Summit, Bellevue, WA. Steve Marshall presentation on Redefining Transit.

October 9, 2015, Advanced Transportation Technologies Conference, all-day, Mercer Island Community and Events Center. Moderated by CATES Executive Director, Steve Marshall.

Recent Publications

John Niles wrote an essay in the New Geography blog of April 13, 2017 titled "Urban Leaders Should Plan for the Public Transit of the Future" describing the two distinct markets for automated vehicles.

John Niles was lead author of a chapter in the book Disrupting Mobility published by Springer in January  2017; click here for a direct link to a preview of the chapter titled "Transit Leap: A Deployment Path for Shared-Use Autonomous Vehicles that Supports Sustainability."

John Niles is lead author of the blog post "How NHTSA should respond to the Tesla Autopilot crash in Florida" dated July 4, 2016

A research paper  “How cities can use autonomous vehicles to increase transit ridership and reduce household vehicle ownership” co-authored by John Niles was named a runner-up for the best conference paper at the May 2016 annual Canadian Transportation Research Forum in Toronto.

CATES wrote a chapter in the well-received book from Springer, Road Vehicle Automation, published in May 2014; click on the book cover for further information from the publisher. Title of our chapter is "Synergies Between Vehicle Automation, Telematics Connectivity, and Electric Propulsion" by Steve Marshall and John Niles.

Click here for comments from the CATES reseach director about selected clippings on vehicle automation. On an award-winning ScoopIt news curation site.

Events Completed

John Niles presented a poster at the December 2015 Florida Automated Vehicle Summit in Jacksonville, Florida

John Niles presented at Puget Sound Regional Council Traffic Operations Committee on connected, automated vehicles, December 4, 2014 

Steve Marshall presentation to the Washington Future Energy Conference on November 5, 2014 about Boosting Electric Vehicle Adoption in Washington State [Click for pdf of his slides].

Video highlights from John Niles' presentation "Vehicle Automation, Challenge and Opportunities" for the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest, October 29, 2014.

Joe Rosmann spoke on "Evolution of Driverless Cars" to the Annual Meeting of Washington State Good Roads and Transportation Association, September 19, 2014 in Richland, WA [Click for full text.]

John Niles presented a paper "Connected, Automated, Zero-Emission Cars Are Essential for Improving Livable, Sustainable Communities" to the 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Detroit, Michigan, September 10, 2014. [Click for full text of paper.]

Steve Marshall presented a poster titled "Demonstrating How to Reduce Oil Consumption and Achieve Emission-Free Mobility as Connected, Automated Vehicle Travel Rises" at the TRB 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium on July 16, 2014 in San Francisco.

John Niles presented the lunch speech at the ITS Canada Annual Conference & General Meeting, June 4, 2014, Victoria, BC [Click for full text.]

John Niles presented a poster "Working Toward Financially Sustainable Public Transit by Reducing Vehicle Operating Costs" at the TRB Road Vehicle Automation Workshop, July 16, 2013 on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, CA

September 7, 2012 Conference, "Beyond Oil: Transforming Transportation in Century 21"
Part of Seattle World's Fair Anniversary celebration. Click for Conference Summary Report.

Opening remarks at Beyond Oil Conference from Event Chairman Steve Marshall 

Video recording of Beyond Oil Conference, thanks to OneToTheWorld.com and Seattle Center Foundation.

Access to specific presentations (slides on split screen) available via "Content on Demand" tab below viewing window in the conference video:
As a few examples:
Amory Lovins, Chapter 3
Robert Lutz, Chapter 6
Phil Jones, WUTC, Chapter 7
Candidates for governor, Chp 8
Shelley Poticha, HUD, Chapter 9
Sec. Paula Hammond, Chapter 10
Smart Cars, Chapter 11
Self-Driving Cars, Chapter 12

>>Coverage of Beyond Oil by Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times

>>Follow up on Beyond Oil by conservation-minded law firm Graham & Dunn

>>Report on Beyond Oil by Mallory Smith in The Futurist Blog

Participants in our July 18, 2011 workshop to plan an Electric Mobility Demonstration Project, conducted jointly with Institute for Environmental Research and Education. 

Other from CATES

Automated, Connected, and Electric Vehicles An Assessment of Emerging Transportation Technologies and a Policy Roadmap for More Sustainable Transportation, December 2014.

"Automating Your Ride" by Steve Marshall, in the May/June 2013 issue of Journey, the magazine for AAA members.

Title page of essay published in Thinking Highways magazine, co-authored by CATES executive director John Niles.  Click on the picture to retrieve the full article in PDF.

CATES -- Center for Advanced Transportation and Energy Solutions -- is a non-profit research & development organization based in Western Washington State.  Our mantra is at the top of this page: "Research, Educate, Integrate, and Accelerate."  There are many diverse threads to integrate!

Announcement of Autonomous Vehicle Project in SeaTac, Washington (PDF version)

City of SeaTac, Washington to explore autonomous vehicle applications for community benefit with consulting assistance from CATES

City of SeaTac has begun a five-month project with the Center for Advanced Transportation and Energy Solutions (CATES) that will conduct research on the viability of the City becoming a Center of Municipal Excellence in autonomous, driver-less vehicle deployment for cost-effective public benefit.

One of the potential examples of this technology application to be explored is the use of driver-less shuttle mini-buses or vans on City roads providing supplementary service between SeaTac Airport and hotel locations.

Another example would be small, quiet, electric shuttles connecting light rail stations and transit centers with residential neighborhoods. Vehicles such as these have the potential to provide mobility that is safer, less expensive, and non-polluting compared to today’s available alternatives.

CATES will develop an Action Plan document that provides guidance to the City on whether and how to proceed on developing and implementing processes of learning, teaching, fundraising, and procurement of new technology applications for using high-tech autonomous vehicles to provide better mobility in the City of SeaTac. 

Active engagement and collaboration will be sought with citizen and business interests, neighboring jurisdictions, Port of Seattle, King County Metro, Sound Transit, non-governmental technology or mobility providers, and others like members of the ACES Northwest Network who step forward with an interest in this topic.

All of the work in this project will be consistent with the June 7, 2017 State of Washington Executive Order 17-02 on autonomous vehicle testing and technology.

An introduction to the project was provided to City officials and the public by  CATES executive director John Niles in a meeting at SeaTac City Hall on Thursday, June 29, 5 to 7 PM.   Click here for announcement on the City of SeaTac web site.

Click here for the slide deck used in the presentation, amended slightly to reflect input received during the meeting on June 29. (PDF)

*  *  *  *

Earlier, CATES contributed to an integrated assessment (IA) of the automated, connected electric vehicle's contribution to transportation sustainability. This project was funded by the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and carried out in partnership with the Connected Vehicle Proving Center at University of Michigan - Dearborn. The public kick-off for the event was September 7, 2012 at the Beyond Oil Conference at Seattle Center with video recordings made and posted on the left hand side of this page.  The final IA report, "Automated, Connected, and Electric Vehicles: An Assessment of Emerging Transportation Technologies and a Policy Roadmap for More Sustainable Transportation" is available by clicking here.

As shown in the following chart depicting data from a sample of 6,000 households in the central Puget Sound region, the travel mode share in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area is dominated by motor vehicle use, so the importance of public and private policy to make cars be safer and generate lower emissions gives impetus to the focus of CATES:

Source:  http://blog.psrc.org/2015/03/transit-work-trips-increasing-to-seattles-core-centers/

We are consistent in all our work with existing approved plans on issues outside of our project scope such as land use pattern/density, non-motorized transportation modes, passenger railroad modes, water ferries, and aviation.

No personal information is collected via this web site.
Copyright © 2017 Center for Advanced Transportation and Energy Solutions - CATES
Last modified: 08/11/17