On 15 November 2024, the kick-off meeting of the KommMa project took place. Starting at 9:30 a.m., all project participants met on the South Campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In addition to the four KIT institutes (IMKTRO, ITAS, IfV and IIP), the mentors and the advisory board with many different partners from practice were also present.

The kick-off meeting was opened with a welcome by Prof. Dr. Peter Knippertz, one of the directors of the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research Tropospheric Research (IMKTRO). Dr. Hans Schipper, head of the project and of the South German Climate Office at IMKTRO, introduced the project and explained its history and objectives. Subsequently, the four KIT institutes presented their work within the project, showed exemplary measures and described the functioning of the database.

A vegan lunch break was followed by an interactive part in which the participants could comment on measures, challenges and solutions at three thematic tables (energy, mobility, water) and then prioritize the measures. Finally, Dr Hans Schipper gave an outlook on the next steps and the participants had the opportunity to talk again before heading home.

The kick-off meeting of the KommMa project was a great success and marks the beginning and continuation of our promising project.

On 05.11.2024, Martin Kagerbauer, Ann-Sophie Voss and Tim Wörle had the opportunity to ride in the autonomous ridepooling vehicle of the KIRA project on a selected route around Weiterstadt. During this smooth ride, they were able to gain their first insights into the driving style of an autonomous vehicle at SAE 4 level. In addition to this exciting experience, there was also an exchange of information on the work already completed and ongoing by the project partners as well as a Q&A with the accompanying drivers trained for KIRA.

The Institute of Transportation is part of the accompanying research of the KIRA project and will contribute to the investigation of the traffic effects of autonomous ridepooling in and around Darmstadt.

As every summer, the Institute for Transport Studies in cooperation with the VDV (Association of German Transport Companies) and the companies init AG and IVU Traffic Technologies AG organized the lecture "Information Management for Public Transport Services". Both students and people from various transport companies in Germany took part. During the course of the event, background information on a wide range of public transport topics was provided and discussed with the lecturers, who came from the field.

After an introduction to the legal, financial and organizational framework conditions, the necessary planning and operation in transport companies as well as traffic control and quality assurance were discussed. Reference was always made to the relevant technology and the necessary IT systems and how these can guarantee public mobility services.

In addition to the comprehensive theoretical knowledge imparted, there were also many practical insights. The speakers' experiences and the joint excursions - visits to init AG and VBK - were particularly interesting and instructive.

The Regionalindikatoren Mobilität (ReMo) project was launched at the beginning of July 2024. The official project kick-off took place on 17 October 2024. The project consortium, consisting of the Institute of Transport at KIT, the Institute of Urban and Transport Planning at RWTH Aachen University, PTV Group, PTV Transport Consult, platomo Gmbh, MOTIONTAG and Invenium Data Insight GmbH, presented the project to the public, the BMDV and the mFund.

One aim of the project is to bring together established data such as surveys and innovative data sources to provide up-to-date, spatially well-resolved mobility indicators for policy, planning and research. The project is funded by the BMDV in the mFUND programme. We are looking forward to the cooperation and exchange within the mFUND and hope to be able to contribute to improving the data landscape in German transport statistics!

From September 22 to 24, 2024, the University Conference on Transportation took place in Geras, Lower Austria. Jelle Kübler, Lukas Burger and Marvin Baumann accepted the invitation from the Institute of Spatial Planning at TU Wien. Over the three days, in addition to workshops and networking events, numerous exciting presentations on research were given by doctoral students from university transport faculties in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Marvin Baumann from the IfV presented his doctoral project in one of the lectures.

On August 2, we went on this year's company outing. We started with a picnic together at the Rhine port. From there, we drove to the Iffezheim Rhine power plant, the largest run-of-river power plant in Germany and one of the most important in Europe. An experienced EnBW employee and tour guide explained how the plant works and its significance for the region. We then had the opportunity to see the impressive bulb turbine up close. At the end of the excursion, we looked together at the fish pass, which plays a central role in the ecological balance of the power plant.

From July 14 to 18, 2024, the IATBR, the 17th International Conference on Travel Behavior Research, took place in Vienna. In addition to the exchange with other scientists, Anna Reiffer, Pia Tulodetzki, Kim Kandler, Tim Wörle, Gabriel Wilkes and Martin Kagerbauer from IFV presented their research work:

• Anna Reiffer, Katherine Asmussen, Xinyi Wang: Cross-Country Comparison of Telework between Germany and the United States
• Anna Reiffer, Jelle Kübler, Kim Kandler, Martin Kagerbauer, Peter Vortisch: Analysis of Telecommuting Effects on Travel Demand based on an Agent-Based Travel Demand Model
• Maike Puhe, Tim Wörle, Jelle Kübler: Social Obligations and Spatial Decisions – a Conceptual Framework for Modeling Locational Choices based on Relationships to People, Things, and Places
• Pia Tulodetzki, Gabriel Wilkes, Martin Kagerbauer, Peter Vortisch: Impact of Weather on Mobility Characteristics – Empirical Findings based on the German Mobility Panel

This year's excursion from the Institute of Transport Studies took 25 students from the the degree programs in "Mobility and Infrastructure", "Civil Engineering" and "Technology and Management in Construction" to Paris. The group traveled by train to the French capital to experience a varied program in the city, which is preparing for the Olympic Games. This included efforts towards a less car-dependent city, the construction of the Grand Paris Express, plans for a supra-regional cycling network and other aspects of urban planning and logistics. Apart from the "professional program", cultural aspects were also included. These included a light show in the Invalides Dome and a nighttime cruise on the Seine.

A detailed report on the individual program items can be found here (in German).

On June 10 and 11, 2024, Lisa Ecke from the IfV took part in the 19th annual conference of the Working Group Mobility and Transport entitled "Upheavals, Transitions, Interventions: Mobility and Transport in Transition" at the University of Cologne, which was organized by the Working Group Mobility and Transport (AK MoVe) of the German Geographical Society. The IfV was involved in two contributions at the conference. Maike Puhe from the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at KIT gave a presentation on “Reparking - Insights into a real-life experiment from Karlsruhe's Südstadt”, in which she presented joint research carried out together with Lukas Burger and Andreas Rall from IfV. Lisa Ecke presented a poster entitled "Mapping life events on mobility: An integrated analysis with the German Mobility Panel and the Socio-Economic Panel", which focused on the identification of life events and the implications for everyday travel.

The IfV was once again represented at this year's ANT (Ambient Systems, Networks and Technologies) conference, which took place in Hasselt, Belgium. The following contributions were presented there:

Lea Fuchs, Josephine Grau, Marvin Baumann, Claude Weyland and Peter Vortisch:
Incident detection on urban roads - A case study using synthetic floating car data

Robin Hauke, Jelle Kübler, Marvin Baumann and Peter Vortisch:
A Vectorized Formulation of the Cell Transmission Model for Efficient Simulation of Large-Scale Freeway Networks

Marvin Baumann, Claude Weyland, Josephine Grau, Lea Fuchs and Peter Vortisch:
How well can we really estimate desired speeds? - A simulation study on the modified Kaplan-Meier approach

Lucas Schuhmacher, Jelle Kübler, Gabriel Wilkes, Martin Kagerbauer and Peter Vortisch
Comparing Implementation Strategies of Station-Based Bike Sharing in Agent-Based Travel Demand Models

Exploring Traffic Engineering: The Institute of Transport Studies (IfV), in collaboration with the Institute of Highway and Railroad Engineering (ISE), hosted a workshop for Girls' Day, offering a glimpse into the world of traffic engineering for girls in grades 6 to 8. After an introduction to various aspects of traffic engineering, participants engaged in hands-on activities, including a small-scale traffic measurement and building segments of roads. The workshop aimed to introduce participants to the field of traffic engineering in an engaging and educational manner, fostering their interest in STEM disciplines.

This year's summit of the German Transportation Research Association (DVWG) focused on the topic of "Real-world laboratories: from research to everyday life". Real-world laboratories can be used to implement and research untested innovations and solutions in everyday life. The ways in which they are already being used and having an impact in transport and mobility research and the findings that can be drawn from them were discussed at the DVWG-Summit 2024.

In addition to exciting panel discussions, an expert dialog and short "didactic bytes", Ann-Sophie Voss and Lucas Schuhmacher from the IfV were each able to make a contribution as part of a pitch format. We presented our agent-based traffic demand model for creating mobility forecasts from the #transmove project and the use of stated choice experiments, for example from the KIRA project.

The theme of this year's two-day Institute meeting in the idyllic town of Klingenmünster was "Research at the IfV". In this context, we discussed current and future research topics and methods that characterize the research profile at the IfV and should be further developed. We also discussed potential project sponsors and partners, as well as the visibility and networking of the IfV in the national and international research landscape.

After the productive working sessions, the evening provided an opportunity to relax and enjoy dinner together at nearby Landeck Castle.

The meeting was a successful event that provided us with space for the creative further development and strategic orientation of research at the IfV.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Eva Heinen and part of her team from the chair of Mobility and Transport at the Technical University of Dortmund at our institute. The visit presented an excellent opportunity to share information about our respective research through a series of short presentations. The open dialogue and exchange were immensely fruitful, and we reflect on a productive day filled with engaging discussions.

We congratulate our colleague Anna Reiffer on winning the advancement award from the heureka Foundation, which was presented as part of the Heureka '24 congress.

Anna Reiffer received the award for her contribution "Generation of Activity Schedules for Agent-Based Demand Models", which she developed as part of her dissertation. In the approach, the first step determines the time use for all activities of a household, and in the second step, the activities are assigned to the household members by solving a multi-objective optimization problem.

The advancement award is endowed with €5,000 and is awarded every 3 years in recognition of outstanding scientific achievements in the field of decision-making and optimization methods.

The yearly excursion organized by the IfV will take place this year from 19.05. to 23.05. in Paris. We will travel to Paris together by TGV and experience a varied program. This includes, among other things, the efforts towards a city with fewer cars, the construction of the Grand Paris Express and aspects of logistics and urban planning. Further program points and details will follow.

Information on registration will follow in the next few days. If you have any questions, please contact Emre Görgülü emre.goerguelue∂kit.edu or Christian Klinkhardt christian.klinkhardt∂kit.edu.

The annual English seminar, this time in Bad Gastein, was once again an enriching experience for all participants. The main objective of the seminar, to practise and improve technical English, was achieved through a variety of activities. These included lectures, discussions, abstract writing, peer reviews and exercises in traditional and AI-assisted translation.

The participation of doctoral students, research assistants and professors from several chairs of transportation from Germany and Austria also facilitated professional exchange and networking.

Outside of the seminar, it was possible to take advantage of the leisure activities in Bad Gastein, especially skiing and hiking.

On 21.02.2024 we had the opportunity to visit Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport and the DRF Luftrettung at Baden-Airpark.

During the tour, we gained insights into working practices in the terminal, baggage handling, processes on the tarmac and the airport fire department. Afterwards, there was a lively professional exchange with Mr. Eric Blechschmidt, Head of Air Traffic, Marketing and Sales, about the economic and traffic perspectives of the airport.

In the second part of the excursion, we visited DRF Luftrettung, which maintains its entire helicopter fleet at Baden-Airpark and schedules missions for southern Germany. We would like to thank you for the insight into the largest helicopter hangar in Europe as well as the insights into the organization behind the numerous missions.

As usual, the TRB Annual Meeting was held in Washington at the beginning of this year, where our institute actively participated through a multitude of conference contributions in the form of presentations and poster presentations. The TRB is one of the largest conferences in the field of transportation and mobility research, providing a unique opportunity for exchange with scholars that extends beyond the usual European framework.