Leveraging Advanced Data to Deliver Multimodal Safety (LADDMS)
Expand Nashville’s LIDAR safety network and provide support for data analysis. In Partnership with NDOT, TSU, UT Chattanooga This project is part of a strong partnership with …
Compositional Systems Lab
The major focus of the Compositional Systems Lab involves systems where a major portion of control, operation, or sensing, involves computing. Examples are cyber-physical systems, autonomous systems, and many kinds of robotics.
Technology to perform this research includes code generation, model-integrated computing, machine learning and data science, and AI. Theoretical understandings in systems theory, graph theory and rewriting, and models of computation is imperative to ensuring systems are built and run correctly.
The lab is led by Jonathan Sprinkle, Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University.
Projects
I-24 MOTION Operations
Develop travel time forecasting tools for arterial roadways based on crash detours and deploy them into the I-24 Smart Corridor. Source of Support: TDOT Total Budget: $600,000 …
Rapid Development and Implementation of AI Signal Control Technology in Tennessee
Application of artificial intelligence to signal control of intersections. Source of Support: MWTCF Total Budget: $371,250 Performance Period: 2025/01 – 09/2026 Primary Place of …
CPS: Offline Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-Physical Systems
This Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) project will accelerate the design of controllers for large-scale engineering systems, focusing on the application of artificial intelligence in …
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PATH-TN: Partnership for AI-driven Multimodal Transportation Services Integration in Tennessee Cities
Collaborate with transit agencies in Tennessee cities on improved service through research-driven efforts. Source of Support: USDOT Total Budget: $8,666,053 Performance Period: …
Featured Publications
(2026).
Scalable analysis of stop-and-go waves: Representation, measurements and insights.
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.
(2025).
A Safety-Driven Interpretable Model for Vehicle Control With Impact on Traffic.
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
(2025).
Traffic Control via Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs): An Open-Road Field Experiment with 100 CAVs.
IEEE Control Systems.
(2020).
Are commercially implemented adaptive cruise control systems string stable?.
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
(2018).
Dissipation of stop-and-go waves via control of autonomous vehicles: Field experiments.
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.
Recent Publications
(2026).
Scalable analysis of stop-and-go waves: Representation, measurements and insights.
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.
(2025).
A Safety-Driven Interpretable Model for Vehicle Control With Impact on Traffic.
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
(2025).
Can control barrier functions keep automated vehicles safe in live freeway traffic?.
Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 16th International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (with CPS-IoT Week 2025).
(2025).
Combining LLMs with a Logic-Based Framework to Explain MCTS.
Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.
Recent News
Friendship Fuels Innovation
Check out this story on the partnership between Jonathan Sprinkle and Dan Work, complete with embarrassing photos and links to previous research that lays the groundwork for what …
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CIRCLES Consortium Receives 2024 IEEE ITSC Institutional Lead Award
The CIRCLES Consortium was honored with the 2024 Institutional Lead Award at the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC). The project was recognized for …
Tech Talk: Solving Mobility Challenges — The TDOT I-24 MOTION Project
The Council on Competitiveness featured the I-24 MOTION project and the CIRCLES experiment as a model for strategic public-private partnerships driving innovation. The article …
AI-Powered Cruise Control Can Stop 'Phantom Traffic Jams' Before They Start
Fox News featured the CIRCLES project’s AI-powered cruise control system, reporting on how the technology can predict when a traffic jam ahead will clear and adjust vehicle speed …
Real World Research: Reducing Human-Caused Traffic Jams
Vanderbilt’s Government and Community Relations office highlighted the CIRCLES experiment, reporting that preliminary results showed a single AI-equipped vehicle could influence …
Road Scholars: Rutgers-Camden Partners on World's Largest Traffic Experiment
Rutgers-Camden Stories published a feature article on the CIRCLES Consortium’s partnership to conduct the world’s largest traffic experiment to test AI-equipped vehicles. The story …
Massive Traffic Experiment Pits Machine Learning Against 'Phantom' Jams
TechXplore covered the CIRCLES Consortium’s landmark experiment on I-24 in Nashville, where 100 AI-equipped vehicles were tested in real traffic to combat phantom jams using …
Adaptive Cruise Control Technology Could Ease Phantom Traffic Jams
Nashville’s WKRN News 2 reported on the CIRCLES experiment findings, covering how adaptive cruise control technology developed at Vanderbilt could ease phantom traffic jams on …
AI-Powered Cruise Control May Pave Way to Fuel Efficiency and Traffic Relief
Vanderbilt News announced results from the CIRCLES experiment showing that AI-powered cruise control systems may pave the way to fuel efficiency and traffic relief. The five-day …
An AI That Lets Cars Communicate Might Reduce Traffic Jams
Popular Science featured the CIRCLES project’s approach to using AI-equipped vehicles that communicate to reduce traffic congestion, highlighting the I-24 experiment in Nashville …