Competition and cooperation in transportation network operations
Systemic view on the strategic interactions of future mobility offers - Researchers from MIT and ETH Zurich have developed a new planning tool
Latest outcomes from the Mobility Initiative project called InteractionsMobility, Systemic view on the strategic interactions of future mobility offers have been featured in the MIT News. The article by Adam Zewe highlights the collaboration between researchers from ETH Zurich and MIT.
Gioele Zardini, who initiated the project during his PhD time in Professor Emilio Frazzoli's research group, has become Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. His new research group will continue in his related area. A strong cooperation between MIT and ETH is expected until the completion of the on-going Mobility Initiative project.
He explains in the MIT news article that the new planning framework based on game theory has positive effects on coordinating operations of initially considered competing offers.
“Sometimes, when competitors collaborate, everybody wins.”MIT News
This planning tool can help independent entities decide when they should invest in joint projects. As the author explains:
"The new framework incorporates co-investment and payoff-sharing mechanisms that identify which joint infrastructure projects a stakeholder should invest in with other operators to maximize collective benefits. The tool can help mobility stakeholders, such as governments, transport agencies, and firms, determine the right time to collaborate, how much they should invest in cooperative projects, how the profits should be distributed, and what would happen if they withdrew from the negotiations."
Their work uses examples from the Swiss railway system, particularly from border regions and the results will be presented at this year's American Control Conference (ACC 2025). Their paper has already been selected for the Best Student Paper Award.
We take this opportunity to congratulate Gioele on his great work and look forward to future collaboration with his team overseas, which certainly is going to further enrich the results of this project.