NREL Sustainable Mobility: The Transportation World Beyond Tomorrow Is Here Today (Text Version)

The following is a text version of the NREL Sustainable Mobility: The Transportation World Beyond Tomorrow is Here Today video.

Meet Stan and Venu. Venu and Stan work at NREL. They look at how transportation options work together. Connecting with energy sources and each other. Well, not like that.

Stan and Venu research the energy and mobility impact of automated vehicles and how they talk to each other, the grid, roads, charging stations, and even buildings.

We can already hail and share a ride with a tap of a cell phone, but how about other revolutionary breakthroughs, like driverless vehicles that self park and charge on their own—while driving, in record time—so you're freed up to get more done, even while you're on the go.

And what about charging cars with solar and wind energy? Stan and Venu are working on this too, and NREL is finding ways to feed spare electricity back to the grid or buildings nearby, even if it's a cloudy day or if there is no wind at all!

But those aren't even the most radical targets of Stan and Venu's ingenuity. Their research is moving beyond vehicles and roads, asking "What is the best way to get people and goods where they need to go with maximum convenience, efficiency, and affordability, while minimizing traffic congestion?"

Stan, Venu, and the team at NREL are factoring it all in:

  • Connected and autonomous vehicles and infrastructure
  • New materials and devices for top performance, efficiency, reliability, and durability
  • High-performance computing and machine learning
  • Controls that integrate vehicles with energy, road, communication, building, and mass-transit systems
  • Communities of the future, from rural to megacities
  • Consumer behavior and new models of car ownership.

Whether it's a commuter, shopper or load of freight, Venu, Stan, and the crew at NREL are adding it all up to make sure that it gets there as easily, efficiently, and affordably as possible.

NREL scientific know-how: Bringing tomorrow's transportation technology to the world—today!

Learn more about NREL's transportation and mobility research.

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