Futuristic Research in Autonomous Transportation

At the intersection of aerospace, ground transportation and artificial intelligence stands Baylor’s new Advanced Vehicle Intelligence and Autonomy (AVIA) Lab, a truly futuristic home for research that develops technologies to enhance the efficiency, safety and adaptability of autonomous intelligent systems found in aerospace and ground vehicles.

Liang Sun, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering, directs the AVIA lab, whose name carries an important symbolic meaning — AVIA is also a Hebrew name (אֲבִיָּה) meaning “God is my father.” Sun joined the Baylor faculty at the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

Much of Sun’s work is in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), which opens the airspace for more flexible, on-demand services, such as air taxis, in both urban and rural areas. Other applications include small package delivery drones and sustainable energy production — and organizations like NASA and Toyota are a part of his work.

Sun is the lead researcher for NASA’s University Leadership Initiative, a $6 million, three-year program to study infrastructure readiness for AAM and develop a mobility-energy-coordinated platform for efficient planning. 

“Now we may call them vertiports, but in the future, these portals for vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft will also become energy hubs servicing both electrified aircraft in the air and EVs on the ground,” Sun said. “Our research helps determine where future service portals can and should be built.”

Sun also works with NASA to improve AAM cost and scalability by enabling fewer human operators to safely manage increasingly autonomous vehicles. Alongside the Toyota Research Institute, he works to generate wind energy from the westerly jet stream, using tethered kites to harvest energy. 

“That Baylor can play a role in these dynamic areas, not only the research that benefits society, but also bringing our lives of faith to collaborations and to the world, it’s a beautiful thing,” said Sun.