SAE Edge™ Research Reports - SAE Mobilus
SAE Edge™ Research Reports provide state-of-the-art and state-of-industry examinations of the most significant topics facing the mobility industry today. With a dedicated focus on emerging topics in new mobility, they offer a structured framework and methodical approach for thinking about and working with rapidly shifting technologies.
The wing-in-ground effect (WIG) vehicle represents a significant advancement in aerodynamics and vehicle design, leveraging the ground effect phenomenon to enhance lift and reduce drag when flying close to the surface. This unique capability allows WIG vehicles to achieve higher payloads, longer range, and greater fuel efficiency compared to traditional aircraft, making them an attractive option for modern military and global disaster response applications. Wing-in-Ground Effect Vehicles: From Modern Military and Commercial Development to Global Disaster Response discusses future disaster response, logistics, and military applications for WIG vehicles, including the ongoing development of aerospace and transportation technology. Relavant advancements in materials and propulsion systems holds promise for further enhancing WIG performance and operational range. Additionally, cost-effective and powerful flight computers with various types of mission-enabling sensor suites from the advanced air mobility and drone industry further enable the development of modern, safe, and practical WIG platforms. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
The next generation of mobility, driven by shared, driverless, connected, and electrified vehicles, holds strong potential to advance sustainability through lower emissions and improved resource efficiency. However, critical questions remain regarding their true environmental impact, including battery lifecycle management, material consumption, and circular manufacturing practices. Sustainable Circular Future Mobility: Environmental Impact of Next-gen Vehicles explores these unresolved issues, focusing on the shift from internal combustion to electric vehicles, supply chain challenges, regulatory gaps, and the operational realities of sustainable productization. It also critically examines the risks of greenwashing, the need for consistent standards, and the role of intersectoral collaboration—with energy, urban planning, information and communications technologies, and waste management sectors—in building resilient, scalable solutions. The report provides strategic recommendations and actionable solutions to help stakeholders better navigate the transition toward a circular future for mobility. It further highlights the overlooked complexities in the Global South, emphasizing the importance of ethical market expansion and localized mobility strategies. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
The automation of labor-intensive picking and planting operations is having an immediate impact in the agricultural indutry. In its simplest form, robotic automation can reduce the labor and soil disturbance while enabling organic soil cover and increasing species diversification through precision approaches to planting, weeding, and spraying. With this, pesticides and fertilizers can be applied in a more targeted way, and with machinery visiting fields more frequently, earlier and more targeted intervention can occur before pests become established. Small, Mobile, and Autonomous Agricultural Robots identifies issues that need to be resolved fo for this technology to thrive, including improving methods of acquiring and labeling training data to facilitate more accurate models for specific applications. It also discusses concepts such as general-purpose mechanical platforms for use as carriers of agricultural automation systems with high stability, positional accuracy, and variable track, as well as the economics of moving capital intensive automation systems toward a service-provision business model. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Autonomous vehicle motion planning and control are vital components of next-generation intelligent transportation systems. Recent advances in both data- and physical model-driven methods have improved driving performance, yet current technologies still fall short of achieving human-level driving in complex, dynamic traffic scenarios. Key challenges include developing safe, efficient, and human-like motion planning strategies that can adapt to unpredictable environments. Data-driven approaches leverage deep neural networks to learn from extensive datasets, offering promising avenues for intelligent decision-making. However, these methods face issues such as covariate shift in imitation learning and difficulties in designing robust reward functions. In contrast, conventional physical model-driven techniques use rigorous mathematical formulations to generate optimal trajectories and handle dynamic constraints. Hybrid Data- and Physical Model-Driven Safe and Intelligent Motion Planning and Control for Autonomous Vehicles presents a hybrid framework that combines data-driven insights with the robustness of physical models. It identifies key challenges in fusing these disparate methods and outlines potential solutions in developing robust fusion strategies, establishing generalized mixed dynamics models, and designing multi-objective robust control systems. In addition, the report explores future research directions to enhance learning efficiency, improve adaptability to rare but critical scenarios, and ultimately pave the way for secure, efficient, and human-like autonomous driving systems. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
With many stakeholders involved, and major investments supporting it, the advancements in automated driving (AD) are undoubtedly there. Generally speaking, the motivation for advancing AD is driver convenience and road safety. Regarding the development of AD, original equipment manufacturers, technology start-ups, and AD systems developers have taken different approaches for automated vehicles (AVs). Some manufacturers are on the path toward stand-alone vehicles, mostly relying on onboard sensors and intelligence. On the other hand, the connected, cooperative, and automated mobility (CCAM) approach relies on additional communication and information exchange to ensure safe and secure operation. CCAM holds great potential to improve traffic management, road safety, equity, and convenience. In both approaches, there are increasingly large amounts of data generated and used for AD functions in perception, situational awareness, path prediction, and decision-making. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is instrumental in processing such data, and in that context, “edge AI” is a more recent type of implementation. Edge AI involves AI algorithms in edge computing devices, which requires hardware operating close to where data is generated. This report explores the potential of edge AI in CCAM. Different perspectives on edge AI for CCAM are explored and definitions drafted. Primary applications are explored, and an outlook on further advancements in applications is presented. The report includes a discussion on the benefits, risks, and challenges related to the use of edge AI in this domain. Major issues such as privacy and cybersecurity are considered, as are misconceptions. Furthermore, potential learning benefits, using experiences gained in other sectors, are introduced. NOTE: SAE Edge Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry. The goal is to stimulate discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of identified issues. These reports are not intended to resolve the challenges they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny.
The transportation industry is transforming with the integration of advanced data technologies, edge devices, and artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are pivotal in optimizing traffic flow and safety. Central to this are transportation management centers, which manage transportation systems, traffic flow, and incident responses. Leveraging Advanced Data Technologies for Smart Traffic Management explores emerging trends in transportation data, focusing on data collection, aggregation, and sharing. Effective data management, AI application, and secure data sharing are crucial for optimizing operations. Integrating edge devices with existing systems presents challenges impacting security, cost, and efficiency. Ultimately, AI in transportation offers significant opportunities to predict and manage traffic conditions. AI-driven tools analyze historical data and current conditions to forecast future events. The importance of multidisciplinary approaches and educational programs in leveraging AI for transportation applications are emphasized in this report. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Recent advances are reducing the cost of space launch, high specific power solar cells, and the production of satellite systems. Modular architectures with no moving parts and distributed power systems would minimize assembly and maintenance costs. Together, this may enable space-based solar power to provide decarbonized dispatchable power at a lower cost than equivalent technologies such as nuclear power stations. Space-based Solar Power for Instantaneously Dispatchable Renewable Power on Earth discusses the advances in emerging technologies, like thin film solar cells, reusable launch vehicles, and mass-produced modular satellite systems that would make economic space power feasible. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
This SAE Edge Research Report explores advancements in next-generation mobility, focusing on digitalized and smart cockpits and cabins. It offers literature review, examining current customer experiences with traditional vehicles and future mobility expectations. Key topics include integrating smart cockpit and cabin technologies, addressing challenges in customer and user experience (UX) in digital environments, and discussing strategies for transitioning from traditional vehicles to electric ones while educating customers. User Experience for Digitalized and Smart Cockpits and Cabins of Next-gen Mobility covers both on- and off-vehicle experiences, analyzing complexities in developing and deploying digital products and services with effective user interfaces. Emphasis is placed on meeting UX requirements, gaining user acceptance, and avoiding trust issues due to poor UX. Additionally, the report concludes with suggestions for improving UX in digital products and services for future mobility, offering a summary of insights and actionable recommendations to enhance the UX in automotive technologies. Understanding the correlation between UX, user acceptance, and market success from a UX, design, and human-factor perspective will assist companies in creating customer-facing next-gen products. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Recent advancements in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and the broader advanced air mobility (AAM) movement have generated significant interest within and beyond the traditional aviation industry. Many new applications have been identified and are under development, with considerable potential for market growth and exciting potential. However, talent resources are the most critical parameters to make or break the AAM vision, and significantly more talent is needed than the traditional aviation industry is able to currently generate. One possible solution—leverage rapid advancements of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the gaming industry to help attract, identify, educate, and encourage current and future generations to engage in various aspects of the AAM industry. Beyond Aviation: Embedded Gaming, Artificial Intelligence, Training, and Recruitment for the Advanced Air Mobility Industry discusses how the modern gaming population of 3.3 million individuals could be engaged through embedded AAM-based scenarios and AI-enhanced grading systems for concept creation, engineering, manufacturing, air space design and management, piloting, remote operations, infrastructure planning, vehicle operations. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
In today's world, the electric vehicle (EV) industry is experiencing a remarkable boom with increasing global demand. With it, comes the surging and unprecedented need for EV batteries. Recycling these batteries has become of crucial importance, as it not only plays a vital role in ensuring the security of the battery supply chain but also serves as a key measure for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are still several issues that remain unresolved in this domain. Unsettled Issues Regarding Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling delves deep into these issues, thoroughly exploring the current state of the industry and potential solutions to drive sustainable EV battery recycling. By addressing these challenges, we can strive towards a more sustainable future in the EV sector. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
There is great recognition regarding the importance of hydrogen as an energy route for the decarbonization of road vehicles. Several countries are making large investments to create products, services, and infrastructures that allow hydrogen to be used as a clean source for propulsion, but there are still many open questions. This complete hydrogen chain involves production, transformation, transport, storage, and use. Although many initiatives are seeking global production, the use of low-carbon hydrogen is not yet economically competitive. Therefore, for this industry to establish itself, and acknowledging the characteristics of each region, there needs to be more intense coordination of efforts between the different industrial and political segments. Low-carbon Hydrogen Use Across Economic Sectors and Global Regions establishes premises for the hydrogen economy and its main environmental aspects. It also includes proposals and scenarios to establish a strategy that relates to production, transport, and application with a focus on global integration. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
In recent years, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have experienced significant sales growth, marked by advancements in features and market delivery. This evolution intersects with innovative software-defined vehicles, which have transformed automotive supply chains, introducing new BEV brands from both emerging and mature markets. The critical role of software in software-defined battery electric vehicles (SD-BEVs) is pivotal for enhancing user experience and ensuring adherence to rigorous safety, performance, and quality standards. Effective governance and management are crucial, as failures can mar corporate reputations and jeopardize safety-critical systems like advanced driver assistance systems. Product Governance and Management for Software-defined Battery Electric Vehicles addresses the complexities of SD-BEV product governance and management to facilitate safer vehicle deployments. By exploring these challenges, it aims to enhance internal processes and foster cross-geographical collaborations, assisting automotive product managers in integrating comprehensive considerations into product strategies and requirements. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
As the world looks to net-zero emissions goals, hybrid electric vehicles may play an increasingly important role. For passenger electric vehicles (EVs) that predominantly make short journeys but occasionally need to make longer trips, electrofuel range extension may be more cost effective than either hydrogen or rapid charging. Micro gas turbines and catalytic combustion show significant potential to deliver low-cost, low-maintenance, lightweight engines with virtually no emissions, and hydrocarbon consuming solid oxide fuel cells show even greater potential in these areas. Aditioanlly, sodium-ion batteries for EVs, dispatachable vehicle-to-grid power and buffering, and variable intermittent renewable energy could also play key roles. The Role of Hybrid Vehicles in a Net-zero Transport System explores the costs, considerations, and challenges facing these technologies. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
The deployment of autonomous urban buses brings with it the hope of addressing concerns associated with safety and aging drivers. However, issues related autonomous vehicle (AV) positioning and interactions with road users pose challenges to realizing these benefits. This report covers unsettled issues and potential solutions related to the operation of autonomous urban buses, including the crucial need for all-weather localization capabilities to ensure reliable navigation in diverse environmental conditions. Additionally, minimizing the gap between AVs and platforms during designated parking requires precise localization. Next-gen Urban Buses: Autonomy and Connectivity addresses the challenge of predicting the intentions of pedestrians, vehicles, and obstacles for appropriate responses, the detection of traffic police gestures to ensure compliance with traffic signals, and the optimization of traffic performance through urban platooning—including the need for advanced communication and coordination technology to maintain stability and reliability in high-traffic scenarios. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Semi-automated computational design methods involving physics-based simulation, optimization, machine learning, and generative artificial intelligence (AI) already allow greatly enhanced performance alongside reduced cost in both design and manufacturing. As we progress, developments in user interfaces, AI integration, and automation of workflows will increasingly reduce the human inputs required to achieve this. With this, engineering teams must change their mindset from designing products to specifying requirements, focusing their efforts on testing and analysis to provide accurate specifications. Generative Design in Aerospace and Automotive Structures discusses generative design in its broadest sense, including the challenges and recommendations regarding multi-stage optimizations. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Data privacy questions are particularly timely in the automotive industry as—now more than ever before—vehicles are collecting and sharing data at great speeds and quantities. Though connectivity and vehicle-to-vehicle technologies are perhaps the most obvious, smart city infrastructure, maintenance, and infotainment systems are also relevant in the data privacy law discourse. Facial Recognition Software and Privacy Law in Transportation Technology considers the current legal landscape of privacy law and the unanswered questions that have surfaced in recent years. A survey of the limited recent federal case law and statutory law, as well as examples of comprehensive state data privacy laws, is included. Perhaps most importantly, this report simplifies the balancing act that manufacturers and consumers are performing by complying with data privacy laws, sharing enough data to maximize safety and convenience, and protecting personal information. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Quantum computing and its applications are emerging rapidly, driving excitement and extensive interest across all industry sectors, from finance to pharmaceuticals. The automotive industry is no different. Quantum computing can bring significant advantages to the way we commute, whether through the development of new materials and catalysts using quantum chemistry or improved route optimization. Quantum computing may be as important as the invention of driverless vehicles. Emergence of Quantum Computing Technologies in Automotive Applications: Opportunities and Future Use Cases attempts to explain quantum technology and its various advantages for the automotive industry. While many of the applications presented are still nascent, they may become mainstream in a decade or so. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Given the rapid advancements in engineering and technology, it is anticipated that connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) will soon become prominent in our daily lives. This development has a vast potential to change the socio-technical perception of public, personal, and freight transportation. The potential benefits to society include reduced driving risks due to human errors, increased mobility, and overall productivity of autonomous vehicle consumers. On the other hand, the potential risks associated with CAV deployment related to technical vulnerabilities are safety and cybersecurity issues that may arise from flawed hardware and software. Cybersecurity and Digital Trust Issues in Connected and Automated Vehicles elaborates on these topics as unsettled cybersecurity and digital trust issues in CAVs and follows with recommendations to fill in the gaps in this evolving field. This report also highlights the importance of establishing robust cybersecurity protocols and fostering digital trust in these vehicles to ensure safe and secure deployment in our modern transportation system. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity and Trust Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
The world is on a “take-make-waste,” linear-growth economic trajectory where products are bought, used, and then discarded in direct progression with little to no consideration for recycling or reuse. This unsustainable path now requires an urgent call to action for all sectors in the global society: circularity is a must to restore the health of the planet and people. However, carbon-rich textile waste could potentially become a next-generation feedstock, and the mobility sector has the capacity to mobilize ecologically minded designs, supply chains, financing mechanisms, consumer education, cross-sector activation, and more to capitalize on this “new source of carbon.” Activating textile circularity will be one of the biggest business opportunities to drive top- and bottom-line growth for the mobility industry. Textile Circularity and the Sustainability Model of New Mobility provides context and insights on why textiles—a term that not only includes plant-based and animal-based fibers, but plastics as well—are contributing to overflowing landfills, polluted waterways, compromised access to clean water, loss of biodiversity and deforestation, and more. Additionally, it gives an overview of the current state of textile circularity, notable policy and regulatory trends, and how to leverage capabilities of the mobility sector, especially in decarbonization. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Growing levels of complexity and integration coupled with the current period of automotive innovation are necessitating the adoption of Systems approaches and Systems Engineering (SE) practices. For the automotive industry to navigate this transformative period successfully, we need Systems approaches to bridge all elements of vehicle development and engage and align all parts of the business. Yet, the industry has lagged in comprehensive SE adoption, persistently retaining organizational silos and outdated paradigms for vehicle design development teams. It still structures itself around physical components of vehicles, despite having the significant majority of functionality and features derived from software and communications. The State of Systems Engineering Adoption in the Automotive Industry captures the unresolved aspects of more comprehensively adopting Systems approaches and practices and seeks to enable industry leaders to more effectively navigate the complexity and integration challenges faced during this unprecedented period of disruptive innovation and change. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
Traditional physical infrastructure increasingly relies upon software. Yet, 75% of software projects fail in budget by 46% and schedule by 82%. While other systems generally have a “responsible-in-charge” (RIC) professional, the implementation of a similar system of accountability in software is not settled. This is a major concern, as the consequences of software failure can be a matter of life-or-death. Further, there has been a 742% average annual increase in software supply chain attacks on increasingly used open-source software over the past three years, which can cost up to millions of dollars per incident. Developing the Role of the System Software Integrator to Mitigate Digital Infrastructure Vulnerabilities discusses the verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification needed to vet systems before implementation and the continued maintenance measures required over the lifespan of software-integrated assets. It also proposes a certified System Software Integrator role that would be responsible for public safety in traditional infrastructure. Click here to access The Mobility Frontier: Cybersecurity and Trust Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.
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