At the beginning of February, Prof. Dr. Heather Kaths traveled to Sweden with Mathis Linnenbrink and Aboozar Roosta for a scientific exchange on research related to bicycle traffic simulation and development of bicycle simulators. The team first headed to Lund University where, on January 31st, they had a meeting with Senior Lecturer Carmelo D’Agostino and his group. The meeting included testing of VR bicycle simulator in their group and discussion of mutual scientific cooperation opportunities.

The team then headed to Linköping to attend meetings at VTI Linköping (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute). On February 1st, they had a meeting about a sensor-equipped bike with Katja Kircher, Johan Olstam, and Fredrik Johansson from VTI Linköping, and they discussed the types and quality of data needed to be gathered using sensor-equipped bikes to research bicycle traffic and methods that are suitable for this goal. They then tested the VR bicycle simulator at VTI institute.

On the morning of February 2nd, the team had a tour of VTI automobile simulator and vehicle crash testing facilities. They also had a meeting about mutual cooperation on microscopic bicycle traffic simulation and research opportunities and challenges in this field, and another meeting about VTI research on bicycle safety in Sweden. In the afternoon, the team had a meeting about macroscopic bicycle traffic with Chengxi Liu, researcher at VTI Sweden, and senior associate professor Clas Rydergren from Linköping University.

The visit provided an opportunity for the team to exchange scientific ideas with researchers in Sweden and explore potential collaborations on bicycle traffic simulation and research.