Our team at the a ITSLab together with the TrancikLab and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) are developing the Tripod system – ‘Sustainable Travel Incentives with Prediction, Optimization and Personalization’ – a system that incentivizes travelers to pursue specific routes, modes of travel, departure times, ride sharing, trip making and driving styles in order to reduce energy use. Tripod relies on an app-based travel incentive tool designed to influence users’ travel choices by offering them real-time information and rewards. Our lab is using an open-source simulation platform, SimMobility , and an energy model, TripEnergy, to test Tripod. The system model, which simulates the Greater Boston area, is be able to dynamically measure Tripod’s energy impact as changes to the network and travelers’ behavior occur.
Tripod presents users with personalized options via a smartphone app, and includes a reward points system to incentivize users to adopt energy-efficient travel options. In the future, reward points, or tokens, could be redeemed for prizes or discounts at participating vendors, or could be transferred amongst users in a social networks.

The project is funded by the US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). In a recent article on Nexus Media about the agency the Tripod project was highlighted. Check it out!

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