Dr. Bilal Farooq
Areas of Academic Interest
Disruptive transportation technologies and services
Cyber-physical transportation systems
Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Simulation
Behavioural modelling
Optimization
Active mobility
Education
| Year | University | Degree |
| 2011 | University of Toronto | PhD |
| 2004 | Lahore University of Management Sciences | MASc |
| 2001 | University of Engineering and Technology | BSc |
Selected Courses
| Course Code | Course Title |
| CV8409 | Urban Transport Systems |
| CV8410 | Travel Demand Analysis |
| CVL910 | Transportation Planning |
Spotlight
Growing up in Pakistan, Bilal Farooq was always taking things apart. “I have some pretty remarkable engineers in my family,” he says. “One of them brought me a computer. I treated it like the TVs, telephones and cassette players I had come across, and opened it right up. I always wanted to know how things work internally.”
Farooq calls this approach “learning through curiosity,” and it still drives him today. After earning a master’s in computer science – a new field at the time – he pursued a doctorate in transportation engineering. He knew little about it, but he was intrigued by the overlap between computer and transportation networks.
Now a Canada Research Chair in disruptive transportation technologies and services, Farooq’s spirit of inquiry animates his work in traffic flow simulation and prediction, connected autonomous vehicles, and urban congestion.
“In Toronto, we have existing transportation problems and new ways to solve them,” he says. “For example, connected autonomous vehicles that tap into distributed routing systems are highly effective in reducing travel time without creating additional complications. That’s one among my many research interests in traffic modelling, congestion relief and greener travel.”
Bilal's Twitter Profile (external link, opens in new window)
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Bilal's LinkedIn Profile (external link, opens in new window)
“A challenge in my work is offering new ways to address existing problems – without those solutions generating new headaches of their own.”
- 2018 – Ontario Early Researcher Award
- 2017 – Canada Research Chair in Disruptive Transportation Technologies and Services
- 2016 – Winner of 2016 MassMotion Academic Pedestrian Modelling Project of the Year, Oasys Software
- 2014 – Québec Early Researcher Award
- Kalatian, A., Farooq, B. (2021) "Decoding pedestrian and automated vehicle interactions using immersive virtual reality and interpretable deep learning," Transportation research part C: emerging technologies 124, 102962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2020.102962 (external link)
- Sanaullah, I., Alsaleh, N., Djavadian, S., Farooq, B. (2021) "Spatio-temporal analysis of on-demand transit: A case study of Belleville, Canada," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 145, 284-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2021.01.020 (external link)
- Wong, M., Farooq, B. (2021) "ResLogit: A residual neural network logit model for data-driven choice modelling," Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 126, 103050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2021.103050 (external link)
- Tu, R., Gai, Y.J., Farooq, B., Posen, D., Hatzopoulou M. (2020) "Electric vehicle charging optimization to minimize marginal greenhouse gas emissions from power generation," Applied Energy 277, 115517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115517 (external link)
- Wong, M., Farooq, B. (2020) A bi-partite generative model framework for analyzing and simulating large scale multiple discrete-continuous travel behaviour data," Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 110, 247-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2019.11.022 (external link)
- LiTrans focuses on emerging issues in transportation systems e.g. disruptive transportation technologies and services, complete streets, cyber-physical systems, pedestrian dynamics, resilience, and climate change. We address these issues using a highly interdisciplinary approach from the perspective of mathematics, engineering (civil, transportation, etc), computer science, and economics. Visit the website to learn more Laboratory of Innovations in Transportation (LiTrans) (opens in new window)
- Editorial Advisory Board Member, Journal of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/transportation-research-part-c-emerging-technologies/editorial-board (external link) )
- Editorial Board Member, Sustainability Journal (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/editors (external link) )
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Smart Cities and Society (https://www.iospress.nl/journal/journal-of-smart-cities-and-society/ (external link) )
- Associate Editor, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference
- Scientific Advisor, Ontario's Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) at MaRS Toronto
- Uber Partnerships with Car-Rental Startups Could Increase Congestion, Experts Say (article) (external link, opens in new window)
- Making Cities Smarter with URBANFlux (video) (external link, opens in new window)
- On-Demand Transit is Changing how some Calgary-Area Commuters Get Around (article) (external link, opens in new window)
- Bell Mulls Technology for Road Condition-Monitoring; Would Dovetail Neatly Into Telecom Titan'S Smart-City Business (article) (external link, opens in new window)
- City Pushes Back Completion of Union Station Revitalization to 2019 (article) (external link, opens in new window)