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Smart Mobility for Sustainable Future Transportation

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 2277

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio, 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: traffic simulation; cooperative-ITS; CCAM solutions; cooperative driving; automated driving systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio, 21, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: traffic simulation; cooperative-ITS; CCAM solutions; ATIS systems; cooperative driving

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue “Smart Mobility for Sustainable Future Transportation” of the journal Sustainability. This issue aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and innovations related to smart and sustainable transportation systems.

In recent years, the landscape of transportation has undergone a significant transformation driven by advancements in technology, changing societal needs, and growing environmental concerns. The concept of smart mobility has emerged as a crucial approach to address the challenges of congestion, pollution, and limited resources. Smart mobility refers to the integration of different and heterogeneous technologies, as well as innovative solutions to optimize transportation systems, improve efficiency, enhance safety, and reduce environmental impact. This paradigm shift towards smarter and more sustainable transportation holds immense promise for shaping the future of mobility.

Several avenues of progress have emerged with the aim of significantly improving the performance of transportation systems. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which optimize traffic management strategies to alleviate congestion and enhance overall transportation efficiency, are particularly noteworthy. The advent of connected and autonomous vehicles introduces transformative potential, while the concept of multimodality enhances the utilization of public transportation. Emerging transportation services such as ride sourcing, demand-responsive services, e-scooters, and other shared mobility solutions offer flexible motorized transit options, contributing to the micro-transit landscape. More recently, two paradigms have emerged as pivotal for sustainable transport development. The Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility (CCAM) paradigm represents a transformative approach to transportation that integrates advanced technologies (related to connectivity, cooperation, and automation) to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. The second one is the so-called Mobility as a Service (MaaS), which integrates various modes of travel into a single, user-centric service, accessible through a digital platform or application. It aims to provide individuals with seamless and convenient access to a wide range of transportation options within a unified and interoperable ecosystem.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Smart Infrastructure and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS);
  • CCAM solutions;
  • C-ITS;
  • Automated and connected vehicles;
  • Shared mobility systems;
  • Mobility as a Service (MaaS);
  • Smart and sustainable cities.

Dr. Angelo Coppola
Prof. Dr. Gennaro Nicola Bifulco
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

Keywords

  • smart mobility
  • CCAM
  • MaaS
  • C-ITS
  • connected and automated vehicles
  • smart cities

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 1625 KiB  
Article
Multi-Objective Path Planning for Unmanned Sweepers Considering Traffic Signals: A Reinforcement Learning-Enhanced NSGA-II Approach
by Yiwen Huang, Wenjia Mou, Juncong Lan, Fuhai Luo, Kai Wu and Shaofeng Lu
Sustainability 2024, 16(24), 11297; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162411297 - 23 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1127
Abstract
With the widespread popularization of unmanned sweepers, path planning has been recognized as a key component affecting their total work efficiency. Conventional path planning methods often only aim to improve work efficiency while ignoring energy optimization, a crucial factor for sustainable development. In [...] Read more.
With the widespread popularization of unmanned sweepers, path planning has been recognized as a key component affecting their total work efficiency. Conventional path planning methods often only aim to improve work efficiency while ignoring energy optimization, a crucial factor for sustainable development. In this paper, an energy- and time-minimization unmanned sweeper arc path problem (ETM-ARP) is investigated, and the effects of road slope, dynamic changes in on-board mass, mode switching of vehicle work, and traffic lights are taken into consideration to meet the requirements of a realistic structured road scenario. A new multi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear planning model is proposed for this problem. To solve this model, we propose a deep Q-network (DQN) and Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm (ALNS)-driven non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (QALNS-NSGA-II). The novelty of this algorithm lies in integrating DQN into ALNS, to guide high-quality adaptive operator selection during the search process based on additional information. The computational results of various examples confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method can be used to improve the efficiency and sustainability of unmanned sweepers for sweeping on structured roads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Mobility for Sustainable Future Transportation)
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Review

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14 pages, 409 KiB  
Review
Automated Vehicles: Are Cities Ready to Adopt AVs as the Sustainable Transport Solution?
by Md Arifuzzaman and Shohel Amin
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2236; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052236 - 4 Mar 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 781
Abstract
Cities are looking for an approach to affordable, integrated and sustainable transport systems across all transport modes and services. Automated vehicle (AV) technologies use emerging technologies to integrate multimodal transport systems and ensure sustainable mobility in a city. Vehicle automation has entered the [...] Read more.
Cities are looking for an approach to affordable, integrated and sustainable transport systems across all transport modes and services. Automated vehicle (AV) technologies use emerging technologies to integrate multimodal transport systems and ensure sustainable mobility in a city. Vehicle automation has entered the public conscious with several auto companies leading recent developments in legislation and affordable cars. Governments support AVs through policies and legal frameworks, and it is the responsibility of AV dealers to comply with legal and policy provisions so that the benefits of this new and promising industry can be felt. Despite the growing interest in AVs as a potential solution for sustainable transportation, several research gaps remain in relation to technology and infrastructure readiness, policy and regulation, equity and accessibility concerns, public acceptance and behaviour, and integration with public transport. This paper discusses the challenges and dilemmas of adopting AVs within the existing urban transportation system and within existing design standards in the United Kingdom and explores the progress and opportunities related to policies of transportation that may stem from the emergence of AV technologies in the UK. The potential of AVs is still limited by cyber insecurity, incompetent infrastructure, social acceptance, and public awareness. However, AVs are crucial to a city’s efficiency and prosperity and will become essential components for the provision of more flexible, convenient, integrated and sustainable travel options. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Mobility for Sustainable Future Transportation)
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