Zheng (Zane) Li
Connected & Autonomous Transportation Systems Laboratory
6064 McKee Road
Fitchburg, Wisconsin 53719
Hi there 👋 I’m Zane, a Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, advised by Prof. Xiaopeng Li. My research focuses on intelligent transportation systems, with particular interests in driving behavior modeling and simulation, safety assessment and scenario generation for autonomous vehicles, and end-to-end autonomous driving control with closed-loop simulation.
Alongside my Ph.D. in UW–Madison, I have also earned two additional master’s degrees in Computer Sciences and Civil & Environmental Engineering. I’m passionate about bridging transportation engineering and computer science.
Before joining UW–Madison, I earned my master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Tongji University, China, where I was advised by Prof. Jian Sun and Prof. Ye Tian.
Feel free to explore my work, reach out for collaborations, or connect with me on LinkedIn / Google Scholar. You can also email me at zli2674@wisc.edu.
news
| Apr 14, 2026 | I am excited to share that I have accepted an offer from Waymo to join as a Machine Learning Engineer, Simulation PhD Intern in Mountain View, California, for Summer 2026. 🎉🚗 During the internship, I will contribute to simulation efforts for autonomous driving, including realistic scenario generation, multi-agent simulation, and world modeling. 🔬 I am greatly looking forward to this opportunity to bridge academic research and industrial practice, contribute to the advancement of autonomous driving, and learn from the outstanding teams at Waymo. 🌟 |
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| Feb 03, 2026 | My paper Simulation-Based Optimization of Highway Active Traffic Management Strategy Designs has been accepted by IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 🚦 This work will be available online soon. |
| Feb 02, 2026 | My paper Assessing Markov Property in Driving Behaviors: Insights from Statistical Tests has been accepted by Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 📊 This work will be available online soon. |
| Jan 15, 2026 | My paper A Multi-Modal Synchronized Dataset for Benchmarking ADAS Responses to Traffic Control Devices has been accepted by the 37th IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV 2026). 💡 I will present this work on June 22–25, 2026, in Detroit, MI, United States. |
| Oct 20, 2025 | Several of my recent works have been accepted to TRB 2026 🎉:
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selected publications
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Simulation-Based Optimization of Highway Active Traffic Management Strategy DesignsIEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2026 -
Assessing Markov Property in Driving Behaviors: Insights from Statistical TestsTransportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2026 -
Interaction Dataset of Autonomous Vehicles with Traffic Lights and SignsCommunications in Transportation Research, 2025 -
Understanding driver cognition and decision-making behaviors in high-risk scenarios: A drift diffusion perspectiveAccident Analysis & Prevention, 2025 -
Simulation-based optimization of large-scale dedicated bus lanes allocation: Using efficient machine learning models as surrogatesTransportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 2022
