Zhengyang WAN

Recent advances in autonomous system simulation platforms have significantly enhanced the safe and scalable testing of driving policies. However, existing simulators do not yet fully meet the needs of future transportation research, particularly in modeling socially-aware driving agents and enabling effective human-AI collaboration. This paper introduces Sky-Drive, a novel distributed multi-agent simulation platform that addresses these limitations through four key innovations: (a) a distributed architecture for synchronized simulation across multiple terminals; (b) a multi-modal human-in-the-loop framework integrating diverse sensors to collect rich behavioral data; (c) a human-AI collaboration mechanism supporting continuous and adaptive knowledge exchange; and (d) a digital twin (DT) framework for constructing high-fidelity virtual replicas of real-world transportation environments. Sky-Drive supports diverse applications such as autonomous vehicle (AV)-vulnerable road user (VRU) interaction modeling, human-in-the-loop training, socially-aware reinforcement learning, personalized driving policy, and customized scenario generation. Future extensions will incorporate foundation models for context-aware decision support and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing for real-world validation. By bridging scenario generation, data collection, algorithm training, and hardware integration, Sky-Drive has the potential to become a foundational platform for the next generation of socially-aware and human-centered autonomous transportation researc

The Virtual Track Train (VTT) represents a novel urban transportation solution that combines elements of both road and rail vehicles. Currently, VTT has gained significant adoption in several cities in China including Yibin, Zhuzhou, Harbin, and Yancheng. Despite its growing usage, the unique structure and complex tire-ground interaction of VTT pose significant challenges in terms of tire wear, which has become a pressing issue. This study develops and validates a multi-body dynamics model of VTT along with a finite element model of its tire. The tire-ground contact behavior and boundary conditions are studied from various perspectives to calculate tire wear. The simulation results demonstrate that the internal pressure of the tires, the load of VTT, the pavement conditions, the inclination angle, and slippage of tires all have critical effects on VTT’s tire wear. These findings suggest that the operating conditions of VTT must be carefully managed to reduce tire wear and ensure safe operation. Furthermore, the research results of tire wear mechanism of VTT offers valuable insights for the optimization and maintenance of VTT.

The Virtual track train (VTT) has been put into commercial operation as a new type of urban rail transport in China in recent years. To further understand VTT’s operation performance, it is essential to develop a specific driving simulation platform to simulate VTT’s unique hybrid driving mode. The main contribution of this paper are as follows: First, a dynamics model of VTT was established using SIMAPCK. Then, the control module for simulating the hybrid driving mode of VTT was developed based on the model predictive control and Logitech driving simulation hardware. Furthermore, a driving scene visualization interface was established using Unreal Engine and Blender to simulate the real driving environment. These contents constitute the driving simulation platform for VTT. The simulation results show that the developed platform can deliver accurate and comprehensive operation performance of VTT under different driving modes, which has strong engineering significance.