From January 5th to 9th, 2025, the 104th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB Annual Meeting) was held in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The TRB Annual Meeting is hosted by the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. It covers the latest research results in all modes of transportation, explores technological innovations and practical experiences, and involves key areas such as intelligent transportation systems, sustainable development, traffic safety, infrastructure construction, public transportation, logistics, and freight. It is the most prestigious, largest in scale, with the highest participation, and involving the most countries in the international transportation research field. In addition to the three-day poster presentation segment, this year’s TRB Annual Meeting also featured at least 549 special lectures on various topics of interest to decision-makers, managers, practitioners, researchers, and representatives from government, industry, and academia. Professor Shiqi Ou and doctoral student Lanxin Shi from the TRANS Research Group were invited to attend this conference and present academic reports.
✨ Conference Reports
The research results of doctoral student Lanxin Shi from the 2024 cohort were selected for the poster presentation segment, where she presented a poster titled “Assessing Chinese User Satisfaction with Electric Vehicle Battery Performance from Online Reviews.” The study quantitatively analyzed user satisfaction in online reviews using data mining and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to evaluate the performance of electric vehicle batteries. This study revealed consumers’ genuine feedback on electric vehicle battery performance and demonstrated how valuable insights can be extracted from large-scale online data through technological means. The study can help electric vehicle manufacturers and policy-makers better understand market demand, optimize product design, and improve user experience. The research results received widespread attention from experts and scholars at the conference, sparking positive discussions.
The collaborative authors of this study include Dr. Xin He from Aramco Americas Research Center, Dr. Daniel J. De Castro Gomez from Saudi Aramco, Professor Lin Zhenhong from the School of Future Technology of South China University of Technology, and undergraduate students Zhou Yanzi from the 2021 cohort, Wu Yonglin from the 2022 cohort, and Tan Xiaolu from the 2021 cohort of the TRANS Research Group. This research was supported by Saudi Aramco and the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou).
In addition, two other collaborative papers by Professor Oushiqi from the TRANS Research Group were successfully selected for the TRB Annual Meeting poster presentation segment. One paper titled “Advancing Equity in China’s Vehicle Electrification,” completed by Professor Zhenhong Lin from the School of Future Technology of South China University of Technology, Professor Peiqun Lin from the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, and Dr. Qianqian Yan, a postdoctoral fellow from the School of Future Technology, focuses on significant inequalities in the ownership of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China and the deployment of public charging piles. The other paper, titled “Analyzing the Daily Profitability from Vehicle-to-Grid Participation for Electric Vehicle Drivers with a Progressive Duration,” completed by Assistant Professor Wei Wei from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Han Anqi from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), proposes a time-based nonlinear segmented discharge pricing scheme and verifies the economic feasibility of V2G services in the actual energy market.
✨ Exchange and Achievements
During the conference, the TRANS Research Group actively participated in multiple special lectures and workshops to understand the latest research advancements and practical cases in the global transportation field. At the same time, the TRANS Research Group engaged in in-depth discussions and established potential cooperation intentions with transportation experts, researchers, and industry representatives worldwide, laying a solid foundation for future international academic exchanges. Looking ahead, the TRANS Research Group will continue to contribute more innovative results to the intelligent transformation and sustainable development of the global transportation energy industry, expand academic influence, and promote breakthroughs and implementation of key technologies in the transportation energy field.
✨ Conference Link
For more details on the TRB Annual Meeting 2025, please visit:
https://trb-annual-meeting.nationalacademies.org/
Thank you for your attention, and stay tuned for more team updates!
Draft: Lanxin Shi
Layout: Yongjian Chen
Final Review: Shiqi Ou