Speaker
Gustav Markkula
Professor Gustav Markkula is Chair of Applied Behaviour Modelling at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK. He is an engineering physicist by training, and began his career with a decade of automotive R&D at Volvo. During this time he did his PhD at Chalmers University of Technology, on mathematical modelling of driver behaviour in safety-critical situations. Since joining the University of Leeds in 2015 he has expanded this research to encompass a wider range of road user behaviours, with a particular focus on road user interaction. A recurring element of his modelling work is the adoption of fundamental theories and models developed in psychology or cognitive neuroscience labs, and integrating and adapting these to create models that recreate and explain road user behaviour in real-world traffic. More recently he has also been extending this modelling approach with elements of reinforcement learning. The overarching goal of his research is to promote safer, more human-centric traffic, by optimising how human road users interact with each other, with infrastructure, and with vehicle safety and automation technology.