UrbanMITS @
Urban Mobility and Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory
Where Innovation Meets Future Urban Mobility
The Urban Mobility and Intelligent Transportation Systems (UrbanMITS) Laboratory at New York University, directed by Dr. Kaan Ozbay, is a research hub dedicated to solving today’s urban mobility challenges through digital twin technologies, artificial intelligence, advanced simulation, and real-time data analytics. As part of the USDOT-funded C2SMART Center, the lab transforms cities into living laboratories, integrating physical and digital testbeds to deliver scalable solutions for smarter transportation systems.
At the core of our mission is the development of living Digital Twins of urban environments, enabling researchers and agencies to test policies, optimize traffic operations, and improve emergency response in virtual space before applying them on city streets. We also design AI-powered systems that turn massive streams of data, from thousands of cameras and sensors, into actionable insights for congestion management, safety analysis, and sustainable mobility planning. Through close collaboration with government agencies, industry partners, and academic networks, the lab advances technical innovation while ensuring real-world impact—helping create smarter, cleaner, and more connected cities.
Welcome to the UrbanMITS Lab!
Featured Research
LAB NEWS
Papers
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Sep 2025 — "Composite safety potential field for highway driving risk assessment" published in Accident Analysis & Prevention.
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Sep 2025 — "When language and vision meet road safety: leveraging multimodal large language models for video-based traffic accident analysis" published in Accident Analysis & Prevention.
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Sep 2024 — "Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Calibrating Macroscopic Traffic Flow Models" published in the Transportation Science.
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Oct 2024 — "Multi-level traffic-responsive tilt camera surveillance through predictive correlated online learning" published in Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.
Awards
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2025 — ITS-NY Annual Meeting — Ph.D. candidate Zerun Liu won First Prize; Shuo Zhang won Second Prize in the poster competition.
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2025 — Dr. Kaan Ozbay received the 2025 Tandon Excellence in Research Award.
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2024 — Our proposal “NanoDT: A High-Fidelity, Cost-Efficient Simulation for Emergency Response” (PI: Ozbay; Co-PIs: Bian, Zuo) was awarded an NVIDIA Academic Grant.
Media
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2025 — The Baltimore Sun reported ~30% drops in Baltimore speed-camera tickets and crashes; Dr. Ozbay was interviewed, citing NYC’s 14% crash cut to affirm automated enforcement.
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2025 — Dr. Ozbay named among PoliticsNY & amNewYork’s 2025 Power Players in Transportation.
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2024 — The AI-reinforced Digital Twin-focused C2SMARTER project (Co-PIs: Gao & Ozbay, with FDNY) was named one of Popular Science’s 50 Greatest Innovations.
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July 2024 — Dr. Ozbay featured in City & State NY’s Transportation Power 100.
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Jan 2024 — Our AI-reinforced Traffic Digital Twin for Emergency Vehicle Interventions, with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), featured in the New York Times.
Event
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TRB 2025 — Dr. Ozbay chaired the Digital Twin Workshop (1037): Digital Twins as a Highly Responsive Decision Support Tool for Management and Planning of Transportation Systems Operating Under Stochastic Demand and Supply Conditions.
