„Automated Cars: A Lane-Free Future”. A Lecture by Prof. Markos Papageorgiou

A groundbreaking concept for traffic organization in the era of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV), known as TrafficFluid, will be presented at Wrocław University of Science and Technology by Prof. Markos Papageorgiou (Technical University of Crete). 

The Greek scientist, one of the world’s most highly regarded experts in transport systems and traffic control, will be the guest speaker at the first Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar of Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2026.

We invite you to the open lecture “Automated Cars: A Lane-Free Future” on Tuesday, 27 January, at the Wrocław Tech Congress Centre (building D-20, Janiszewskiego 8). The lecture begins at 1:15 p.m. Admission is free; prior registration via Evenea.pl is required. The event is co-organized by the Wrocław branch of Academia Europaea.

Ruch bez pasów i inteligentne „nudging”

In traditional road traffic, lanes are the foundation of order, but they are also a source of many risky maneuvers—especially lane changes, which often trigger sudden braking and traffic congestion. The TrafficFluid concept proposes a lane-free approach, in which autonomous vehicles move more smoothly and safely without clearly marked lanes.

Such a model can increase road capacity through better use of its width, while also reducing maneuvers that lead to bottlenecks. It enables flexible “sharing” of roadway width between traffic directions—even in real time—depending on traffic volumes in each direction.

The second pillar of the concept is vehicle nudging, a mechanism of subtly influencing vehicles not only from behind, but also laterally or from the front. Unlike human-driven vehicles, whose reactions are largely limited to what happens ahead of them, autonomous vehicles can coordinate their behavior in multiple directions simultaneously.

The result is greater traffic stability and smoothness, as well as improved efficiency of the road network.

From theory to real-world scenarios

During the lecture, Prof. Papageorgiou will present the key research directions related to the TrafficFluid concept.

These include, among others, traffic control of autonomous vehicles in a lane-free setting, trajectory planning for individual vehicles and groups of vehicles, the formation of flexible “platoons” and two-dimensional vehicle “flocks,” macroscopic traffic modeling, internal control of road capacity boundaries, and solutions for complex urban environments such as roundabouts and unsignalized intersections.

Who is Prof. Markos Papageorgiou?

Prof. Markos Papageorgiou is a world-renowned expert in automatic control and optimization in transportation systems. He earned his academic degrees at the Technical University of Munich and for many years conducted research and collaborated, among others, with INRETS in Paris. He served as a professor at the Technical University of Munich and, since 1994, has been affiliated with the Technical University of Crete, where he currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus. Since 2021, he has also been a professor at Ningbo University in China.

He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious journal Transportation Research – Part C. He is a member of IEEE and IFAC, and a fellow of the distinguished Academia Europaea. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including two ERC Advanced Grants.