Mehmet Fatih Ozkan is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA. He received his B.E. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Mevlana (Selcuk) University, Konya, Turkey, in 2016, and his M.S. degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA, in 2019. His research interests include connected and automated vehicles, intelligent transportation systems, driver behavior modeling, and vehicle system control. He has participated in various research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He received one best paper and finalist award from the ASME Automotive and Transportation Systems Technical Committee in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Besides, he received a rising stars award from the ASME Dynamic Systems and Controls Division in 2022.
Despite the growing vehicle connectivity and autonomy in recent years, human drivers will remain to be the majority of traffic participants, and mixed traffic where human-driven vehicles and connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) coexist is expected to be the most likely traffic scenario in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is essential to develop human-centric CAV systems by placing humans at the center of the CAV system development. This research aims to develop modeling, control, and optimization methods for human-centric CAVs to improve the efficiency of mixed traffic scenarios while acknowledging the surrounding human drivers’ driving behaviors and social interactions. First, driver behavior models are designed to understand the drivers’ driving preferences. Second, personalized, energy-efficient, and traffic-friendly CAV control strategies are implemented for efficient and sustainable mixed traffic scenarios. Third, socially desirable and trust-aware CAV control designs are developed for improved social and trustful traffic interactions between human drivers and CAVs.