Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Air–Ground Collaborative Mobility

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue centers on the core theme of “Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Air–Ground Collaborative Mobility,” aiming to gather cutting-edge global research findings. It explores how AI technology can overcome coordination barriers in air–ground transportation systems, achieving deep integration between ground vehicles (traditional and automated vehicles) and low-altitude aircraft (UAVs and eVTOLs) across the entire process of perception, decision-making, scheduling, and management. This Special Issue will establish a cross-disciplinary exchange platform, highlighting theoretical innovations, technological breakthroughs, system integration, and practical applications in AI-driven air–ground collaborative mobility. It seeks to advance collaborative solutions among academia, industry, and government agencies to address critical questions such as the following: How can AI enable dynamic perception and risk warning for air–ground traffic? How can efficient air–ground collaborative scheduling and path optimization models be constructed? How can technological implementation be balanced with safety, ethical, and policy considerations? Ultimately, this Special Issue will contribute to building a safer, more efficient, and sustainable integrated air–ground mobility ecosystem. We welcome high-quality original research papers and review articles focused on but not limited to the following scope:

Core Technologies for AI-Driven Air–Ground Collaboration

• Multi-source heterogeneous data fusion techniques for air–ground systems;
• Collaborative perception and obstacle detection for air–ground coordination;
• Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) applications in air–ground collaborative decision-making;
• Unified high-precision map construction and dynamic updating for air–ground systems;

Air–Ground Collaborative System Integration and Simulation

• Air–ground traffic flow modeling and simulation platforms;
• Safety verification technologies for air–ground collaborative autonomous vehicles (AVs) and drones;
• Low-altitude traffic management systems (UTM) and ground intelligent transportation systems (ITSs);
• Optimization of air–ground collaborative communication networks;

AI-Empowered Air–Ground Collaborative Operations and Services

• Air–ground collaborative mobility services;
• AI-based air–ground collaborative Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform;
• Air–ground collaborative response in emergency scenarios;
• Dynamic regulation of air–ground collaborative traffic flow;

Safety, Ethics, and Policy Adaptation for Air–Ground Collaboration

• AI-driven safety risk assessment model for air–ground collaboration;
• Ethical guidelines for air–ground collaborative mobility;
• Policy and regulatory recommendations supporting air–ground collaboration;
• Sustainability assessment of air–ground collaborative systems.

Dr. Zhihao Xu
Dr. Miao Su
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Transportation is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.