Wilco Burghout

I am a researcher in traffic modeling, simulation and analysis. Since 2012 I have been director of the Centre for Traffic Research at the KTH Royal institute of technology in Stockholm, from where I obtained my PhD in Transport Planning in 2005. My research interests focus on modeling, analysis and optimisation of traffic processes, ranging from large-scale traffic data mining to autonomous and public transport modeling as well as system-wide traffic state estimation and prediction.

In addition to my post at KTH, I was attached to VEDECOM (September 2016-June 2020) where I lead the working group on modeling system and network effects of autonomous and automated vehicles, and where I have lead the development of the autonomous transport system simulation platform VIPSIM.

As part of my research, I developed MEZZO, an open-source, discrete-event traffic simulation model that simulates road traffic on the level of individual vehicles, but with aggregated behaviour on links. The model is especially designed to simulate large networks and can be used in combination with a microscopic simulator to work as a hybrid model, where a specific area of interest is simulated in microscopic detail (all vehicle movements and driver decisions are simulated explicitly) while the surrounding network is simulated at mesoscopic level (aggregated behaviour).

I co-developed BusMezzo (with Oded Cats, Haris Koutsopoulos, Tomer Toledo and Ingmar Andréasson), a dynamic public transport operations and assignment simulation model based on Mezzo. The model has since been used by researchers and planners in a number of projects for forecasting passenger flows and testing operational measures prior to their implementation.

I have been co-supervisor for the following PhD students in Sweden (KTH) as well as in France:

• Oded Cats (KTH, graduated 2011), “Dynamic Modelling of Transit Operations and Passenger Decisions”, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-49962
• Mahmood Rahmani (KTH, Graduated 2015),” Urban Travel Time Estimation from Sparse GPS Data: An Efficient and Scalable Approach”, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-167798
• Qichen Deng (KTH, Lic, 2016), “Heavy-Duty Vehicle Platooning: Modeling and Analysis”,http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-181934
• Athina Tympakianaki (KTH, Graduated 2018),” Demand Estimation and Bottleneck Management Using Heterogeneous Traffic Data”, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-221850
• Tatiana Babicheva (UVSQ, France, Graduated 2020), “Machine Learning for the distributed and dynamic management of a fleet of taxis and autonomous shuttles”, https://www.theses.fr/2021UPASG023#
• Toussaint Hoche (UVSQ, France, Graduated 2021), “Heuristics for the management of a fleet of autonomous, electrics, bookable and shareable taxis”, https://www.theses.fr/2021UPASG082
• Matej Cebecauer (KTH, Graduated 2021),” Enhancing Short-Term Traffic Prediction for Large-Scale Transport Networks by Spatio-Temporal Clustering”, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-304732
• David Leffler (KTH, Graduated 2022), “Simulation-based Evaluation of Fixed to Flexible Transit”, http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-316520

I am currently (co-)supervising:

• Boel Berg Wincent (KTH, licentiate 2024, expected doctorate 2026), “Modelling and analysis of micro-mobility services”.
• Mohd Aiman Khan (KTH, expected licentiate 2025), "Simulation and modelling of electric public autonomous road transport" (main supervisor)
• Anastasios Skoufas (KTH, expected licentiate 2025), "Public Transport Network Demand Analytics"
• Haoye Chen (KTH, expected licentiate autumn 2024), "Multimodal Autonomous Mobility Systems"
• Ivo Bruijl (KTH, expected licentiate autumn 2026), "Modelling of Modular Pod-based Rail and Road Transportation" (main supervisor)
• Daniel Chaves (KTH, expected licentiate autumn 2026), "Multimodal Datadriven Traffic Management" (main supervisor)
• Beichuan Hong (KTH, expected licentiate autumn 2025), "Optimizing Operations for Heavy-Duty Construction Vehicles: From Vehicle Motion Planning to Logistics Systems" (main supervisor)