The 5th Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center (ISTRC) Annual Conference was held at Bar-Ilan University on the 26th of February 2025, jointly organized by Bar-Ilan University and the Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE).
The ISTRC team wishes to convey its profound appreciation to the members of the Academic and Organizing Committee, Prof. Eyal Yaniv and Prof. Wafa Elias, for their invaluable contributions to the success of the conference.
RECORDED CONFERENCE TALKS
The conference began with opening remarks from the organizers and partners, setting the stage for a series of insightful presentations. Distinguished speakers then explored collaborations between academia, industry, and government, culminating in a keynote address delivered by a renowned international researcher.
OPENING WORDS AND GREETINGS
- Prof. Eyal Yaniv - Chair, Center for Smart Cities, Bar-Ilan University
- Prof. Yoram Shiftan - Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion and Head, ISTRC
- Himmat Younis - Director, Innovation and Smart Mobility Unit, Ministry of Transport & Road Safety
- Prof. Wafa Elias - Civil Engineering Department, Sami Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE)
COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN ACADEMIA, INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT
- Erez Aryeh - Head of Mobility and Automotive Sector, Technoport SA, Luxembourg
- Dr. Noa Matarasso - Head of Academic Department, Technological Infrastructure Division, Israel Innovation Authority
- Eli Doron - Co-Founder and CTO, Carteav
- Dr. Shuki Wolfus - Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University
KEYNOTE LECTURE
- Prof. Jennifer Mindell - Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Transport and Health:
Keynote Lecture on "TRANSPORT, HEALTH AND INEQUALITIES"
Prof. Mindell informed the participants about the Transport and Health Science Group (THSG), an international scientific society dedicated to exploring all aspects of the relationship between transport and health. More information can be found on their website.
AWARDS
This year, two awards were presented at the conference to honor outstanding young researchers.
We extend our sincere congratulations to the awards winners and to all the young researchers who presented their work at the conference and encourage them to continue their impactful research and contributions!
2025 ISTRC CONFERENCE BEST POSTER AWARD
Niv-Haim Mizrahi of Tel Aviv University has been awarded the 2025 ISTRC Conference Best Poster Award by the Academic and Organizing Committee for the poster "Wake Measurements of Heavy Vehicle Rear-End Models with Custom-Designed Passive Flow Control Devices".
OUTSTANDING POSTER AWARD IN HONOR OF PROF. YUVAL HADAS
The Hadas family has generously sponsored this award in memoriam of our esteemed friend and colleague, Dr. Yuval Hadas ז"ל of Bar-Ilan University, who sadly passed away in 2024.
Yuval was one of the pillars of ISTRC, a member of the leading team that conceived and established it. He served as the head of the "Innovative Transportation Services" Professional Committee, as the chair of the 1st Israeli Smart Transportation Students Conference and was an active member of multiple committees. Yuval made significant contributions to the center’s success. His positive attitude, professionalism, and dedication were invaluable.
We deeply miss Yuval, both professionally and personally. May his memory be a blessing.
The recipient of the Outstanding Poster Award in Honor of Prof. Yuval Hadas is Rotem Zohar-Opher from Tel Aviv University for the poster "Dynamic Electric Dial-a-Ride on a Fixed Circuit".
ISTRC-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Fifteen research projects funded by the ISTRC were presented across two parallel sessions, each highlighting key areas of research focus.
Traffic and Control
| Igal Bilik, Yossi Yovel and Omer Mazar | How Bats Exit a Crowded Colony When Relying on Echolocation Only - A Modeling Approach |
| Nathan Gartner and Sunbola Zatmeh-Kanj | Simultaneous Optimization of Arterial Progression Schemes for Private and Public Vehicles |
| Tuvy Lemberg and Vadim Indelman | Semantic Perception and Planning with Coupled Semantic-Geometric Models for Reliable and Safe Online Autonomous Navigation in Partially Observable Domains |
| Jack Haddad | Adaptive Travel-Time Based Max-Pressure Traffic Signal Control |
Energy and Propulsion
| Syeda M. Zahan, Aleksandr Baranov, and Dario R. Dekel | PGM-free High-Performance Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells |
| Yotam Regev, Erez Ben Altbet, Shmulik Edelman and Amir Shapiro | Autonomous Robotic Charging System for Electric vehicles |
| Doron Aurbach, Gregory Salitra, Lena Markevich, Boris Markovsky, Hadar Sclar, Sandipan Meiti and Konar Rajashree | The Challenge of High Energy Density Rechargeable Batteries |
| Alon Kuperman and Andrey Vulfovich | Highly Efficient Power Electronics Wireless Charging Interface with Reduced Hardware Requirements |
Transportation Planning and Behaviour
| Hadas Marciano, Gil Luria, Hossam Haick and Yaniv Jakob | Driver Stress Detection: Validating Chemical Sensors for Measuring Driver Workload and Stress |
| Itai Ater, Brad Ross, Adi Shany, Eray Turkel and Shoshana Vasserman | Does Road Pricing Reduce Congestion, and How? |
| Ilana Har-Tal and Karel Martens | What's stopping you? Developing a more robust measurement tool of transportation problems |
| Gabriel Dadashev and Bat-hen Nahmias-Biran | Personalized and Automated Transportation |
Transportation Planning and Services
| Gal Neria, Michal Tzur and Marlin Ulmer | Dynamic Two-Stage Order Fulfillment Problems |
| Ayelet Gal-Tzur and Yana Barsky | A comprehensive framework for assessing the quality of transport-related synthetic time series |
| Yossi Luzon, Pavel Shmatnik, Raanan Yossef, Ohad Eizenhendler and Erel Avineri | Queueing-Based and Data-Driven Design of Emergency Transportation Services |
STUDENT POSTER EXHIBITION
A dedicated poster exhibition showcased the research work of fifteen students, emphasizing their academic contributions.
| Elad Ballas | The Self-Discharge Mechanism in Flowless Zn-Br Batteries and its Mitigation |
| Gabriel Deza | Line Network Design for Parcel Routing with Handling Times |
| Gal Neria | The Restaurant Meal Delivery Problem with Ghost Kitchens |
| Gil Lifshits | Scalable Distributed Joint Navigation in Local Environments |
| Hanan Elias Enibtawi | Response Characteristics of Elderly Drivers Following a Transfer Control Request from an Autonomous Level 3 System |
| Keren Or Grinberg Rosenbaum | Bridging Data to Knowledge: Hybrid System Thinking Approach to Transportation Data-Driven Decision-Making |
| Michelle Specktor | E-Scooter Traffic Effects on Pedestrian Stress in Urban Environments |
| Niv-Haim Mizrahi | Wake Measurements of Heavy Vehicle Rear-End Models with Custom-Designed Passive Flow Control Devices |
| Noam Katzir | Mobility as a Service: How Can Emerging Transport Technologies Improve Mobility Inclusiveness? |
| Oren Shrout | Patch Contrast: Self-Supervised Pre-training for 3D Object Detection |
| Rahamim Batten | Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of Emerging Chemical Process Technologies through Multi-Scale Modeling |
| Razi Zoabi | An Experimental Study on Max-Pressure Traffic Controller Based on Delays |
| Rotem Zohar- Opher | Dynamic Electric Dial-a-Ride on a Fixed Circuit |
| Shany Cohen | Angle Limiting Non-Local Metasurfaces For the NIR |
| Yuval Bar-Nehemia | The Mode Not Taken: Alternative Mode Choice of Tel Aviv Micromobility Users |
The conference was funded by ISTRC and participation in the event was free of charge.