The 6th Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center (ISTRC) Annual & Students Conference 2026 - THE ISRAELI SMART TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH CENTER

The 6th Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center (ISTRC) Annual & Students Conference was hosted by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology on January 28, 2026.

The annual ISTRC conference is an interdisciplinary research event covering all areas of transportation research. This year, the Annual Conference and the Students’ Conference were merged into a unified event. The goal was to connect cutting-edge research in Smart Transportation with advanced practice and to bring together leading experts and promising young researchers.

The ISTRC team gratefully acknowledges the members of the Academic and Organizing Committee, Prof. Jack Haddad, (conference chair), Prof. Shlomo Bekhor, Prof. Sigal Kaplan, Prof. Yoram Shiftan, Prof. Tomer Toledo and Dr. Rui Yao, whose efforts were instrumental in the success of the conference.

The conference opened with welcoming remarks from the outgoing and incoming heads of ISTRC, together with a representative of the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety.

Participants then had the privilege of hearing an insightful keynote lecture delivered by Prof. Aleksandar Stevanovic from the University of Pittsburgh.

The program featured 22 presentations showcasing research across a wide range of Smart Transportation fields, carried out in two parallel sessions.

During this year’s conference, two awards were granted to students conducting research in the field of Smart Transportation. ISTRC warmly congratulates the young researchers on this achievement and wishes them continued success in their research!

The Student Poster Exhibition provided an opportunity to discover engaging research projects presented by students.
In addition, the Formula Technion student team presented their race car.

The full conference program can be seen HERE.

RECORDINGS of all conference lectures are available below. Click on the links below to access the recordings.

CONFERENCE OPENING AND KEYNOTE

OPENING REMARKS

Prof. Jack Haddad - Conference Chair, Head of ISTRC; Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion
Prof. Yoram Shiftan - Former Head of ISTRC; Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion

WELCOME AND GREETINGS

Offir Ettinger - Head of Regulation Division - Smart Transportation and Innovation, Ministry of Transport and Road Safety

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Prof. Aleksandar Stevanovic - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, USA:
Keynote Lecture on "Traffic Management Starts with the Car"

RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

ISTRC 2026 Research Presentations_UPLOAD.xlsx
Authors	Title
Amnon Frenkel and Ravid Luria	Factors of digital mobility divide and its effect on accessibility, socio-spatial integration and equity
Golan Ben-Dor, Ido Klein, Yarden Catz, Amir Mossek and Marcos Szeinuk	From Google Routes to Fixed Road Segments: A Framework for Continuous Travel Time Monitoring
Rui Yao	Perturbed utility Markovian choice model: choice probability generation function and estimation
Dalit Ken-Dror Feldman, Gila Albert, Nathan Pinhas and Yoram Shiftan	Ethical values in smart transportation
Esther David, Avigail Haliva, Rina Azoulay and Wafa Elias	Deep Learning for Real-Time Detection of Vulnerable Pedestrians
Lior Rozenzweig and Erel Avineri	On the Multi-Class Traffic User Equilibrium Model
Shiran Zadka Peer and Gil Luria	Assessing the Real-World Effectiveness of Behavioral Nudges in Reducing Driver Phone Interaction
Amir Brudner, Mehdi Nourinejad and Opher Baron	Pricing and queueing with heterogeneous users in mixed public–private facilities: Theory and an application to parking
Nathan Pinhas and Dalit Ken-Dror Feldman	From Automation to Autonomy in Smart Transportation
Igor Shusterman, Nicole Raz, Aleksey Ogulenko, Mali Sher and Itzhak Benenson	E-Scooter Riders and Pedestrians: Road Safety Challenges and Solutions
Victoria Gitelman, Etti Doveh and Wafa Elias	Analyses of automatically-generated data on e-scooter behaviours to characterize the safety level of urban sites and estimate safety-related interventions
Nina Garmash and Mali Sher	From Data to Safer E-Scooter Rides: An Open Safety Dashboard for Tel Aviv
Samarth Ghoslya, Noam Katzir, Yoram Shiftan and Bat Hen Nahmias Biran	Mobility-as-a-Service Choice Behaviour: A Labelled and Unlabelled Bundle SP Survey Design in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area
Einat Tenenboim, Inbal Glickman, Rui Yao, Shlomo Bekhor and Yoram Shiftan	Understanding Commuters’ Willingness to Rideshare using Stated-Preference Data
Aleksey Ogulenko and Itzhak Benenson	Helping E-scooters Find Their Place in the City
Omri Sternberg and Shai Arogeti	Interpolating Control-Based Shared Control for Autonomous-to-Manual Transitions in Vehicle Platoons
Wambui Kariuki and Karel Martens	The Gender Gap through the lens of dignity - A Case study in Paratransit
Avital Shamir, David Epstein and Mor Kaspi	Simulation-optimization framework for ride-pooling services
Michal Zuckerman-Farkash and Amit Birenboim	Walkability and walking in the city: a person-centered approach
Omer Rake, Sigal Kaplan and Amit Birenboim	Personalized Walking Apps: Developing HEXAD-Based Gamification for Urban Walking Promotion
Sigal Kaplan and Shir Davidovich-Oren	The Impact of Tax Rebates on ADAS Adoption Dynamics: A Staggered Difference-in-Differences Analysis by Diffusion Stage, Technology, Market, and Equity Dimensions
Anat Tchetchik, Sigal Kaplan and Orit Rotem-Mindali	Do non-ionizing radiation concerns affect people’s choice between hybrid and traditional cars?

2026 ISTRC CONFERENCE BEST POSTER AWARD

2026 OUTSTANDING POSTER AWARD IN HONOR OF PROF. YUVAL HADAS

RECORDING

The Hadas family generously sponsors this award in memory of our esteemed friend and colleague, Dr. Yuval Hadas ז״ל of Bar-Ilan University, whose memory and contributions to the field continue to inspire us following his passing in 2024.

Yuval was a member of the team that conceived and established ISTRC and played a key role in shaping the Center. He served as head of the “Innovative Transportation Services” Professional Committee, chaired the 1st Israeli Smart Transportation Students Conference, and served on various evaluation committees. His professionalism, dedication, and positive spirit made a lasting contribution to ISTRC and its success.

Assaf Granot from the Technion received the 2026 Outstanding Poster Award in Honor of Prof. Yuval Hadas for his poster, “An Optimal Control Framework for Reliable and Sustainable Public Transport Operation.”

STUDENT POSTER EXHIBITION

Student Poster Exhibition.xlsx
AUTHORS	TITLE
Avishav Engle, Andrey Zhitnikov, Oren Salzman, Omer Ben-Porat and Kiril Solovey	Effective Game-Theoretic Motion Planning via Nested Search
Omer Dilian, Nadav Davidovitch and Karel Martens	Public Transport Use Cessation and Age-Related Functional Decline: a Quasi-Causal Analysis using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Ilana Har-Tal Prishkulnik, Matan Singer and Karel Martens	What’s Stopping You? Developing a Robust Measurement Tool for Mobility Problems
Harel Gil	Perimeter Identification Of Traffic Congestion In Urban Networks Using Reinforcement Learning
Golan Ben-Dor, Ido Klein, Marcos Szeinuk and Shlomo Bekhor	Centrality based sampling design for traffic counts in strategic transport model validation
Hannah Yair, Shlomi Dolev, Ehud Gudes and Amit Hendin	Global Traffic Management for Zero Transportation Externalities
Keren-Or Grinberg Rosenbaum, Yoram Shiftan, Francisco Pereira and Bat-Hen Nahmias-Biran	Hybrid XAI for Climate-Adaptive Traffic Operations: Integrating System Modeling and ML
Shachaf Weil Zattelman and Natan Pinhas	Balancing Engineering Efficiency and Ethical Responsibility in Mega-Transport System Design: An Analytical Case Study of the Greater Tel Aviv Metro Project
Polycap Chesifu Chebe and Karel Martens	The relationship between urban road design, perceived walkability, and walking behavior
Noam Katzir, Natan Pinhas, Dalit Ken-Dror Feldman and Baruch Karp	Integrated Hybrid design Model for Smart mobility challenges in the era of AI
Alexander Baranov, John C. Douglin, Jinliu Zhong, Karam Yassin, Sapir Willdorf-Cohen, Jaana Lilloja, Kaido Tammeveski, Xile Hu, Kenji Miyatake and Dario R. Dekel	High-Performance PGM-Free Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
Yiska Amar, Maayan Pereg, Wafa Elias, Rina Azoulay and Esther David	Predicting Pedestrian Road-Crossing Behavior: Toward A Multivariate Psychological Model
Felix Tener, Matan Mayerowicz, Noga Dines and Joel Lanir	Click, Don’t Steer: A Quantitative Comparison of Tele-Driving and Tele-Assistance User Interfaces for Remote Operation of Autonomous Vehicles
David Gangur, Erel Avineri and Gur Mittelman	Energy Consumption and Economics of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Systems
Zhengrong Li and Karel Martens	A causality-based double machine learning method for capability-based transport equity analysis
Noam J. Gal, Li Min Alex Wang, Amnon Franco, Basile Chaix and Amit Birenboim	Navigating Digital Cities: How Mobility and Spatial Context Mediate the Relationship Between Smartphone Fragmentation and Wellbeing
Alina Zukin, Gabriel Dadashev, Eliyahu Cohen and Bathen Nahmias Biren	Designing Equitable and Low-Carbon Urban Future: A Study of Cities in the Tel Aviv Metropolis
John Douglin and Dario Dekel	High-Performance Ultra Low PGM Loading Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Syeda Mushrifa Zahan and Dario R. Dekel	H2-Ambient air Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Dor Bar and Irad Ben Gal	Semi-Supervised Identification of Drivers Using Only GPS Trajectory Data
Helal Shaalan and Nathan Binhas	"Ethical Challenges in Planning and Developing Transportation and Civil Infrastructure in Peripheral Regions: The Golan Heights Case Study"
Adiel Ashrov, Natan Levy and Guy Katz	Statistical Runtime Verification for LLMs via Robustness Estimation
Iman Banerjee	Assessing sustainable transport systems across Indian Smart Cities: A size-class perspective
Gil Luria and Hadas Marciano	Risk-Taking Reduction Among Professional Drivers During Wartime: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Safe Driving and Emotional Regulation Workshop
Asher Stern, Oz Ben Yosef and Zvi Shiller	Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments using Acceleration Obstacles
Assaf Granot and Jack Haddad	An Optimal Control Framework for Reliable and Sustainable Public Transport Operation
Gabriel Deza, Michal Tzur and Tal Raviv	Routing in Line Networks with Handling Times
Tian Zhang and Sagi Filin	VPRFormer: Lightweight Rotation-Invariant Vector-Neuron Transformer for Large-scale LiDAR Place Recognition and Localization
Avishag Boker and Joel Lanir	Designing Teleoperation Command Menus for Last Mile Delivery Robots
Yanir Zadickario and Mor Kaspi	Optimizing Recharging Depot Location in a Robotic Delivery Service Extended by Public Transportation
Gabriel Dadashev, Ada Garus, Konstantinos Mattas, Biagio Ciuffo and Bathen Nahmias Biran	The Hidden Energy Demand of Automated Mobility: Onboard and Offboard Systems in Urban Fleet Simulations
Judith Paredes Vogel, Veronika Shteingardt and Dov Dori	A Model-Driven Approach to Risk Identification and Mitigation in Smart Transportation Systems
Moshe Refaeli Shimron and Vadim Indelman	Towards Optimal Performance and Action Consistency Guarantees in Dec-POMDPs with Inconsistent Beliefs and Limited Communication
Niv-Haim Mizrahi, Alexander Liberzon and Oksana Stalnov	Wake Measurements of Heavy-Vehicle Rear-End Models with Custom-Designed Passive Flow-Control Devices
Gil Sorani and Mor Kaspi	Mixed Truck–Robot Last-Mile Delivery under Uncertain Handover Times
Gad Gadi Hasson, Segev Chen, Rina Azoulay, Esther David, Wafa Elias and Tammar Shrot	Enhancing Smart Mobility via Capacity-Aware Multi-Agent Pathfinding in Traffic Networks
Tamar Wasserman and Tova Rosenbloom	Using Risk Homeostasis Theory for Examining Self-Regulated Driving of the Israeli Driver
Chava Schweitzer, Rina Azoulay, Esther David and Rica Gonen	Dynamic Route Allocation via Online Combinatorial Auctions
Victor Freeman, Jack Haddad and Erez Karpas	Optimization of Hybrid Traffic Laws for Mixed Autonomous and Human-Driven Vehicle Environments Using Dynamic Control Methods
Natan Steinmetz, Nezah Balal and Eyal Magori	Autonomous, Speed-Independent Truck Height Estimation Using 94-GHz Doppler Radar for Bridge-Strike Prevention
Rami Sabbagh and Jack Haddad	Comparative Evaluation of Structured and Unstructured Urban Airspace Configurations for Low-Altitude Mobility

The conference was funded by ISTRC and participation in the event was free of charge.