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Artificial intelligence (AI) combined with a novel bio-inspired camera achieves 100 times faster detection of pedestrians and obstacles than current automotive cameras. This important step for computer vision and AI achieved by researchers can greatly improve the safety of automotive systems and self-driving cars.

Experiments by ETH Zurich computer security researchers showed that smartphones can be manipulated to allow the owner to ride Swiss trains for free. The researchers also highlighted ways of curbing such misuse. It makes travelling by train, bus and tram super easy: instead of buying a conventional ticket, people using the EasyRide function in the SBB app can start their journey with a single swipe on their smartphone.

Tire wear of motor vehicles is responsible for a large proportion of microplastics in the environment. Researchers from Empa and the company wst21 have summarized the results of various studies in a recently published basic report in response to postulate Po 19.3559 and presented approaches for reduction.

Without political measures for zero-emission technologies, a significant proportion of heavy goods vehicles will still run on diesel in 2035. This result is shown in a new ETH Zurich study on the decarbonisation of truck traffic. Without political incentives, heavy goods vehicles will probably continue to run on diesel in the future.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have performed calculations to work out how air traffic could become climate-neutral by 2050. They conclude that simply replacing fossil aviation fuel with sustainable synthetic fuels will not be enough. Air traffic would also have to be reduced.

Researchers from EPFL and JTEKT Corporation have developed an automated driving system based on the concept of 'collaborative steering', which aims to increase transportation safety, efficiency, and comfort by encouraging active interaction between autonomous vehicles and their human drivers. Autonomous driving technologies have already been integrated into many mass-produced vehicles, providing human drivers with steering assistance in tasks like centering a vehicle in its lane.

Over 10,000 people in both the French and Swiss parts of the Lake Geneva region have been surveyed on their transportation habits, as the first element of a broader EPFL study on consumer lifestyles and behavior. The study is being spearheaded by EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), working in association with the Canton of Vaud, the Canton of Geneva and Greater Geneva.

The approach and landing of passenger jets is often a burden for people and the environment. The DYNCAT project, in which researchers are working with partners in Switzerland, Germany and France, is aiming at approaches that cause less noise and CO2 emissions - thanks to intelligent assistance systems for the pilots.

Empa, together with EBP and Fussverkehr Schweiz, analyzed in spring 2022 in Thalwil (ZH) how pedestrians react to automated vehicles. The automated parking assistant that had been used is the first system approved in Switzerland that moves a vehicle without a person sitting in it. The findings of the research project, which was co-financed by AXA's Foundation for Prevention, create an important basis for prevention measures and design principles for sustainable road spaces.

Researchers have used swarms of drones to measure city traffic with unprecedented accuracy and precision. Algorithms are then used to identify sources of traffic jams and recommend solutions to alleviate traffic problems. Given the wealth of modern technology available - roadside cameras, big-data algorithms, Bluetooth and RFID connections, and smartphones in every pocket - transportation engineers should be able to accurately measure and forecast city traffic.

A team from the University of Geneva shows that underestimating battery autonomy is a major psychological barrier to buying an electric car. What are the barriers to the adoption of electric cars? Although the main financial and technological obstacles have been removed, their market share still needs to increase.

If 60% of the conventional gasolineand diesel-powered passenger cars in Switzerland were to be converted to "electricity-based" vehicles by 2050, i.e.

Together with teams from England and Germany, researchers developed a monitoring system for aircraft components. In the future, minor damage could be detected and monitored during flight without the aircraft having to go into the hangar for maintenance. This will reduce operating costs and increase safety at the same time.

How much does a country's vehicle fleet consume on average? How does it change from year to year? With the increasing number of electric vehicles and more and more "crossover" models that can hardly be assigned to one vehicle segment, analysis is becoming increasingly difficult. researchers analyze databases using deep learning methods - and can make precise statements: In which region of the country do the fattest cars drive? What can car buyers do to reduce CO2 consumption? In recent decades, there have been major technical changes in new cars.

Swiss electricity generation has a very low carbon footprint. However, this is often not the case for imports. Researchers from the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Automation, led by Empa researcher Loris di Natale, investigated how electric cars could help reduce the need for energy imports from fossil fuels.

In the largest worldwide pricing experiment to date, researchers have demonstrated that road users change their behavior when they must pay for the social and environmental effects of their transportation. The study was led by researchers from the University of Basel, ETH Zurich and ZHAW. Transportation causes a variety of costs that individual road users do not have to pay themselves.

A team from the University of Geneva studied the ash from volcanic eruptions and discovered two effects of ash sedimentation that will improve our ability to predict the danger posed by volcanic ash clouds. When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted in April 2010, air traffic was interrupted for six days and then disrupted until May.

Vegetables and fruits often have a long way to go on the supermarket shelf. How can quality be intelligently maintained on long journeys and possible spoilage prevented? In cooperation with Coop, Empa experts are developing a system that keeps an eye on freshness during transport - and at the same time allows optimization.

Short-term disturbances caused by aircraft noise at night can lead to cardiovascular death within hours. This is shown in analyses by a team of researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and Empa. The researchers used a dataset covering the years 2000 to 2015 to investigate how mortality rates in the Zurich airport area are related to acute nighttime aircraft noise exposure; they recently published their findings in the European Heart Journal.

Aircraft also make noise on approach, which is often underestimated. A research project involving Empa has shown that it is quite possible to reduce noise during approach, to avoid particularly loud approaches and at the same time to reduce fuel consumption. In the future, pilots shall receive software assistance to help them better manage the complex relationships between air traffic control, flight mechanics and environmental impact.