The academics of TRAICE pose for a photo outside the Frank Gibb building at Loughborough University.

Loughborough’s new multi-disciplinary centre to revolutionise impact of AI on transport

A new multi-disciplinary centre based at Loughborough University will look to revolutionise how AI is used to improve UK transport.

The Transport AI Innovation Centre, or TRAICE, combines expertise from across the University as it looks to become the leading centre of excellence for advancing smart, safe, efficient, equitable and sustainable transport.

The Centre, which will secure the University’s reputation as a leader in transport and AI, will harness and enhance the latest advancements in data and artificial technologies, ensuring comprehensive coverage and innovative contributions to the field of transport research.

With more than 70 academic staff from all nine of the University's Schools and a vibrant community of PhD and postdoctoral researchers, TRAICE will be one of the UK’s largest transport research and innovation centres. Work across the Centre will fall into seven interlinked themes:

  • Vehicle Digital Twin
  • Electrification and Automation
  • Connectivity
  • Smart Mobility
  • Safety and Human Factors
  • Cycling
  • Cities and Planning

Dr Haitao He from the University’s School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering is Director of the new centre. He said: “TRAICE is the UK's first transport research and innovation centre that champions a fully interdisciplinary approach, bringing together over 70 academic staff from all nine Schools at Loughborough University to tackle critical transport challenges. As we establish TRAICE, our vision is to become a leading Centre of Excellence for advancing smart, safe, efficient, equitable, and sustainable transport.

Professor Dan Parsons, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation said: “I am delighted that we are launching the Transport AI Innovation Centre, building on Loughborough University's long history of delivering internationally excellent research and innovation in transport. The Centre’s interdisciplinary approach will play an instrumental role in addressing the critical challenges in the transport sector, working with partners to drive innovation that has far-reaching global impacts across multiple fields, from healthy living to decarbonisation. This launch event today underscores Loughborough University's commitment to world-leading research and innovation that addresses the global challenges of our time - creating better futures, together.”

Dean of the University’s School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Professor Malcolm Cook added: “TRAICE is an exciting development for us at Loughborough University. The new centre, which originates from the successful transport and urban planning group in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, recognises the complex, multifaceted challenges facing transport logistics and draws on expertise beyond planning and civil engineering, bringing together mathematicians, economists, social scientists as well as other engineering disciplines. I look forward to seeing the new advances in research and the impact these have on our stakeholder activities.”

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 24/93

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.

Loughborough is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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