As artificial intelligence (AI) gets faster, better and easier to use, University of California faculty — including a number of CITRIS researchers — are harnessing it to help solve some of the biggest problems facing the state.
Improving your daily commute
In an effort to alleviate the ever-growing traffic epidemic, CITRIS Director Alexandre Bayen led a federally funded study to see how AI-equipped vehicles could potentially ease rush hour congestion. In the experiment, a fleet of one hundred AI-augmented vehicles, piloted by human drivers, joined Nashville morning commuters on Interstate 24 and successfully networked with one another to improve the overall flow of traffic. The preliminary results show how AI can prevent the adverse ripple effect of individual driver decisions on the road, making for faster and safer commutes.
“The game changer here was the coordination — the fact that the vehicles leverage each other’s presence and can react preemptively to downstream traffic conditions and improve overall fuel efficiency of traffic on the freeway,” said Bayen.
Other CITRIS PIs addressing transportation issues with AI include Scott Moura at UC Berkeley, who co-authored a study that aims to incentivize widespread use high-occupancy vehicles, and Ayush Pandey at UC Merced, whose 2023 Seed Award project is working to safely enhance air traffic control using AI.
Leading ethical AI in higher education
In response to the rapid growth of AI, UC became one of the first universities and the largest public university system to develop and implement policies for the responsible use of artificial intelligence. Brandie Nonnecke, founding director of the CITRIS Policy Lab, and Stuart Russell helped lead the UC Presidential Working Group on Artificial Intelligence, with CITRIS Executive Director Camille Crittenden serving as co-chair of the student experience subcommittee.
Their recommendations for the safe and beneficial integration of AI are now being set into motion across the system.
Data on the menu
Reza Ehsani, professor of mechanical engineering at UC Merced, is exploring robotic harvesting machines to reduce the costly, labor-intensive process of strawberry harvesting while increasing speed and accuracy. The machines will train on collected data to progressively improve their performance and work together with humans.
AI for nature
As climate change and development rearrange wildlife habitat and threaten bird life in California and around the world, the importance of keeping tabs on how species are faring only grows. Shawn Newsam, a UC Merced computer science and engineering professor, is using recorders and a type of AI called a convolutional neural network to enable accurate and noninvasive data collection and analysis.
Alex Pang, a computer science professor at UC Santa Cruz, used machine learning to identify and locate rip currents in the ocean, information that can alert first responders and beachgoers to prevent drowning.