Analyzing Cross-Border Truck Activity to Inform California’s Transition to Zero-Emission Trucks

Year: 2023-2024

Role: Researcher

Sponsor: Resilient and Innovative Mobility Initiative (RIMI)

Description: This project involves a synergistic multicampus effort to collect two complementary datasets that will elucidate heavy-duty truck border crossing characteristics and activity. UC Irvine will pilot a new license plate reader algorithm designed specifically to identify and capture the dual license plate registrations of Mexican trucks crossing into California. The system will be deployed to monitor the entry and exit of trucks at Otay Mesa and Calexico and will be integrated with other advanced technologies such LiDAR and inductive loop signatures. The integration of these technologies will allow UC Irvine to identify critical truck characteristics, such as the year, make and model of the vehicle. UC Riverside will recruit fleet operators on both sides of the California-Mexico border to participate in GPS truck data collection. The data collection will target trucks that frequently cross the border in short- and long-haul applications. UC Riverside researchers will then analyze the data for truck activity information, such as travel distance, travel time, and fuel consumption at both the trip- and the tour-level. Taken together, the data collected in this study will help CARB understand the impact of the ACF on border communities and highlight the grid infrastructure needs for the transition to ZEV trucks at the border.