The Institute's goal is to perform research in the high-priority fields of smart city and transportation technologies, infrastructure and planning, autonomous and next-generation vehicles, and sectoral application demands.

Smart City technology that supports collaboration among stakeholders at the local level allows the development of innovative applications by ensuring the interoperability of systems with components of the data with the effective management solutions to the city's needs, quality of life, efficiency of urban services and the sustainability of economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects by addressing refers to more livable and sustainable cities for its citizens by targeting to increase. In addition, the system that provides accessibility with the infrastructure and transportation facilities of cities, protects energy, provides quick solutions in emergency situations and problems, efficient resource use and coordination with all stakeholders comes to mind.

In the field of Smart City and Smart Transportation, which is mentioned in the 10th Development Plan of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, approaches to determining strategies and action plans have been put forward.Eleventh Development Plan (2020-2023):

In the action determined within the scope of Logistics and Transportation; 511.5. The architecture related to Intelligent Transportation Systems (AUS), which provides energy and time savings, traffic safety, and effective use of road capacity in the road network, will be completed and put into practice, including local governments.

In the action determined within the scope of Livable Cities, Sustainable Environment; 666. To ensure the sustainable development of cities; Studies such as the establishment of an accessible high-connected urban transport system require the participation and comprehensive cooperation of all stakeholders. 683. Local governments will be encouraged to prepare smart city strategies and road maps to follow, smart city projects will be selected and implemented by taking into account the areas and capabilities prioritized at the national level, and the development of domestic production for smart city applications will be supported. In this context, it will provide guidance based on the National Smart City Strategy and Action Plan.

In the action determined within the scope of Urban Infrastructure; 704. In order to use the existing infrastructure more efficiently, to increase traffic safety, to manage the transportation demand correctly and to make a more effective planning, a national scale ITS Strategy Document will be prepared, ITS architecture will be developed and ITS applications will be expanded. Thus, the National ITS Strategy Document Action Plan will be completed and put into practice. And related projects will be completed. 704.3. Especially in metropolitan cities, dynamic passenger, driver and pedestrian information systems will be established in the urban transportation network.

In addition, within the scope of development plans; It is aimed to increase the number and diversity of postgraduate programs for priority sectors and to open interdisciplinary postgraduate programs.

Within the scope of YÖK's priority research areas (2022), in the thesis studies to be carried out with postgraduate education in the field of Smart City and Transportation Technologies;

• Directly related to the field of Sustainable and Intelligent Transportation,
• Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems
• Data Science and Cloud Computing (including Big Data Technologies)
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented and Virtual Reality,
• It is aimed to conduct applied research activities indirectly related to the fields of network technologies (5G, Broadband, Internet of Things, Blockchain Technology).

Within the scope of the European Union Horizon Europe Program 2022, the "Climate, Energy and Mobility" cluster as the 5th Cluster within the 2nd Component Global Problems and Industrial Competition can be evaluated within the scope of Intelligent Transportation. Expressed as the Green and Digital Transition, it aims to transform Europe's mobility, energy, construction and production systems into the first digitally managed circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy.

Within the scope of Goal 6 - Transportation and Smart Mobility of this cluster, it is aimed to develop safe and smart transportation services in freight and passenger transportation. The priority research areas supported in this target are;

• Connected, Cooperative and Autonomous Mobility
• Multimodal Transportation Systems (Logistics, infrastructure, urban transportation, etc.)
• Transportation Safety and Resistance.

TÜBİTAK 2022-2023 Priority R&D and Innovation Issues study focuses on “green” and “digital” technologies; It was determined by the Presidential Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Board (BTYPK) with the coordinated technical support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology and TUBITAK. R&D and innovation issues related to Smart City and Transportation technologies are summarized below with their field and scope:

• Artificial Intelligence - Mobility Sector - Autonomy: Technology Development and Innovation Projects will be supported in order to develop Artificial Intelligence-based systems that will be used in autonomous air/land/sea vehicles, rail systems and commercial vehicles for civil use and that will increase driving safety and autonomy level.
• Sustainable Intelligent Transportation: Applied Research, Technology Development and Innovation Projects will be supported to develop integrated, efficient, safe, environmentally friendly smart transportation systems using open data, artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies.
• Sustainable Intelligent Transportation: Applied Research, Technology Development, Innovation Projects for the transformation of the transportation network will be supported with connected, cooperative, fully autonomous (driverless) mobility systems containing innovative sensing systems, communication systems, electronic equipment with high processing capacity.
• Sustainable Intelligent Transportation: Applied Research, Technology Development and Innovation Projects will be supported to develop integrated, efficient, safe, environmentally friendly smart transportation systems using open data, artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies.
• Climate Change, Environment and Biodiversity: Applied Research, Technology Development and Innovation Projects will be supported to develop GIS and remote sensing supported optimization technologies and platforms with high resilience and sustainability, net zero greenhouse gas emission target, innovative integrated urban planning approach.
• Clean and Circular Economy: Integrating digital technology applications such as advanced sensor technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning and remote sensing and life cycle assessment approaches to be used in all sectors and buildings for the purposes of monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, waste minimization, process optimization and increasing energy efficiency. Applied Research, Technology Development and Innovation Projects for the development of technologies will be supported.

In summary, the Smart City and Transportation Technologies study area;
Within the scope of Development Plans, Smart City Strategy and Action Plan, Smart Transportation Strategy and Action Plan, sectoral application and areas in need of competence in related fields are accepted. In addition, within the scope of the European Commission Horizon 2020 program, Smart Cities, Transportation and Smart Mobility clustering, priority research areas updated in YÖK 2022 and TÜBİTAK 2022-2023 Priority R&D and Innovation Topics determined within the Presidency Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Board (BTYPK) ” and “digital” technologies have been determined as the area in need of priority research.

Smart City technology that supports collaboration among stakeholders at the local level allows the development of innovative applications by ensuring the interoperability of systems with components of the data with the effective management solutions to the city's needs, quality of life, efficiency of urban services and the sustainability of economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects by addressing refers to more livable and sustainable cities for its citizens by targeting to increase. In addition, the system that provides accessibility with the infrastructure and transportation facilities of cities, protects energy, provides quick solutions in emergency situations and problems, efficient resource use and coordination with all stakeholders comes to mind.

As the first holistic high-level policy in the field of Smart Cities, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change was given responsibility for the preparation of the smart city strategy and program in the development plans, national-level strategies and action plans. In this context, the 2020-2023 National Smart Cities Strategy and Action Plan Circular was published in the Official Gazette dated 24 December 2019 and numbered 30988 and entered into force.

Within the scope of 4 Strategic Objectives for Effective and Sustainable Smart City Management, 9 Targets and 40 Actions have been determined. 4 Strategic Objectives can be listed as follows;

1. An Effective Smart City Ecosystem Will Be Created.
2. Smart City Transformation Capacity will be increased.
3. A Facilitating and Guiding Environment Will Be Created in Smart City Transformation.
4. Smart City Transformation Will Be Provided in Urban Planning Services.

Click for Smart Cities Strategy and Action Plan

2. Target within the scope of the Strategic Purpose 2.1. The Smart City Transformation Capacity of Technology Producers, Solution Providers and Service Providers will be increased. The 9th Action within the scope of this target; The human resources in Turkey will be brought to a capacity that can be employed in the Smart City field by using systematic plans, programs, mechanisms and models that increase their competencies. 11. Action; Formal and non-formal education will be structured in such a way as to ensure the training of competent human resources in the field of Smart City.

Smart City Management within the scope of Smart City Structure; Governance is defined by the components of Strategy Management, Policy Management, Integrated Service Management and Business Management. Smart City Applications are Smart Environment, Smart Security, Smart People, Smart Buildings, Smart Economy, Smart Space Management, Smart Health, Smart Governance, Information Technologies, Smart Transportation, Smart Energy, Communication Technologies, Information Security, Smart Infrastructure, Disaster and Emergency It is determined by the Situation Management and Geographic Information Systems components.

In addition to defining the Smart Transport application component within the scope of the Smart Cities Strategy, Within the scope of the European Initiative on Smart Cities, it has been stated that the transportation, structures and energy networks sectors stand out as areas where new technologies will be supported and that the studies carried out in this context will be followed in the priorities to be made in Turkey.

Web links:

https://akillisehirler.gov.tr

Smart Transportation is an efficient, safe, effective, innovative, dynamic, environmentally friendly, value-added and sustainable smart transportation that integrates with all transportation modes, utilizes local and national resources, in order to achieve its vision of a human and environment-oriented transportation system with information technologies. aims to create a network. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has determined the National Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategy Document and the 2020-2023 Action Plan with the participation of all stakeholders in the sector by following the technological developments in the world. Strategic targets within the framework of this vision and mission determined as Intelligent Transportation Systems in Turkey;

• Development of ITS Infrastructure,
• Ensuring Sustainable Smart Mobility,
• Ensuring Road and Driving Safety,
• Creating a Livable Environment and Conscious Society,
• Data Sharing and Ensuring Security.

In the existing smart transportation infrastructure, measurement, information, control and guidance systems are used extensively. The integration of telecommunication, electronic communication and computer technologies with geolocation and geographic information technologies and the use of digital maps provides the necessary technological infrastructure for applications used in smart transportation systems.

As positioning and communication technologies; global navigation positioning systems GNSS, radio frequency communication RFID, short distance communication DSRC, near field communication NFC, 3G/4G/5G as cellular communication networks, radio data systems RDS/DAB and WAN applications have started to be widely used. By using sensors and sensing technologies, data on vehicle count, traffic density, road, weather and emission conditions are provided. In accordance with the vehicle-everything (V2X) approach (paradigm) with cooperative AUS technology, vehicle-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-infrastructure (V2I), infrastructure-infrastructure (I2I), vehicle-pedestrian (V2P) etc. communication between components. Economic and social transformations with the use of developing autonomous vehicle technologies, internet of things (IoT), data analytics and big data management, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will have an impact on the future plans of countries together with the ever-growing transportation economy.

In accordance with the vehicle-everything (V2X) approach (paradigm) with cooperative AUS technology, vehicle-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-infrastructure (V2I), infrastructure-infrastructure (I2I), vehicle-pedestrian (V2P) etc. communication between components. Economic and social transformations with the use of developing autonomous vehicle technologies, internet of things (IoT), data analytics and big data management, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will have an impact on the future plans of countries together with the ever-growing transportation economy.

• Sustainable Transportation Planning
• Parking Lot Planning
• Zero emission transportation and Air quality Monitoring
• Multi-Criteria and Heuristic Network-based Site Optimization 
• Logistics & Public Transport Management

• GPS, LIDAR and Sensor technologies for Autonomous Vehicles
• Artificial Intelligence for autonomous control systems
• Hyperloop
• Maglev
• Flying Vehicles