Summary

Efe Yarbasi is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Engineering Systems Group at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). His research covers the safety of automated and driver-assistance systems and the electrification of transportation. He serves as principal investigator and co-principal investigator on projects sponsored by NHTSA, Toyota Motor North America, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. He co-leads the Low Altitude Airspace Working Group at M-Air.

He holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech. There he worked in the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory under Prof. Dimitri Mavris and developed methods to find and reduce the uncertainties that matter most in complex, multi-disciplinary designs. He is a member of AIAA and IEEE.

Students: I enjoy working with students. If you are interested in my research, please send me an email.

Interests

Safety of Automated and Driver-Assistance Systems Electrification of Transportation Systems EV Charging Optimization Advanced and Regional Air Mobility Systems Engineering Uncertainty Quantification

Research

My work sits at the intersection of vehicle safety, electrified transportation, and systems engineering.

Safety of automated and driver-assistance systems
Teaching example from my guest lecture on global sensitivity analysis (AEROSP 740/568). Six methods rank the inputs of a simplified automatic emergency braking model. Illustrative only, not project results.

Safety of automated and driver-assistance systems

Estimating and assuring the real-world safety of automatic emergency braking, driver assistance, and automated driving, using crash data, naturalistic driving data, and simulation.

  • Simulation-based safety benefit estimation for high-speed AEB (Toyota)
  • Automated scenario retrieval from trip recorder data (NHTSA)
  • Hazard analysis and risk assessment of intersection ADAS (NHTSA)
  • Roadway departure “crashes not prevented” analysis (NCHRP 22-68)
Research projects →
AI and data for crash analysis
Multi-agent LLM framework for pre-crash reconstruction (Xu et al., SAE Int. J. Transp. Safety, 2026; © The Authors, published by SAE International).

AI and data for crash analysis

Using large language models and multi-agent AI to reconstruct and reason about pre-crash events from crash records.

  • AI-driven multi-agent pre-crash reconstruction (SAE Int. J. Transp. Safety, 2026)
  • LLM-based probabilistic reasoning about drivers’ hazardous actions (ESV 2026)
Publications →

Electrification of transportation and air mobility

Multi-modal electrification of transportation systems and their integration into broader mobility networks, from EV charging to advanced and regional air mobility.

  • EV charging optimization for long-dwell parking
  • Advanced and regional air mobility system integration
  • Co-lead, Low Altitude Airspace Working Group at M-Air
  • Member and contributing author, NERC Electric Vehicle Task Force
Uncertainty quantification and systems engineering
Blended-Wing-Body concept used as the case study in the AIAA Journal paper.

Uncertainty quantification and systems engineering

Methods for finding the uncertainties that matter most in complex, multi-disciplinary designs and for designing computational and physical experiments to reduce them, from my PhD at Georgia Tech.

  • Methodology demonstrated on a Blended-Wing-Body aircraft (AIAA Journal, 2026)
  • Validation of computational tools for air and sea vehicles (NATO STO AVT-297)
AIAA Journal paper →

Education

  • PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • MS in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • MS in Mechanical Engineering, Bogazici University
  • BS in Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University
📰 News
  • Mar 2026. Paper on AI-driven multi-agent pre-crash reconstruction published in the SAE International Journal of Transportation Safety (doi).
  • Spring 2026. Co-leading the newly launched Low Altitude Airspace Working Group at M-Air, University of Michigan.
  • 2026. NCHRP 22-68, Evaluating the Influence of Vehicle Active Safety Technologies on Roadway Departures, awarded; I am the UMTRI lead (with TTI as prime).
  • 2026. Paper on drivers’ hazardous actions in two-vehicle crashes, using LLM-based probabilistic reasoning, at the International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV).
  • 2026. Guest lecture on global sensitivity analysis in AEROSP 568, Complex Systems Design and Integration.
  • Jan 2026. Uncertainty mitigation methodology paper published in AIAA Journal, 64(1) (doi).
  • 2025. Started leading tool development for NHTSA’s Trip Recorder Analysis project; mentored UROP and SURE undergraduate researchers.
  • Jul 2024. Joined the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) as an Assistant Research Scientist.
Featured Publications
Advanced Tool for Traffic Crash Analysis: An AI-Driven Multi-Agent Approach to Pre-Crash Reconstruction featured image

Advanced Tool for Traffic Crash Analysis: An AI-Driven Multi-Agent Approach to Pre-Crash Reconstruction

A two-phase multi-agent LLM framework that reconstructs pre-crash scenarios from crash reports, scene diagrams, and event data recorder records (277 CISS rear-end crashes).

gerui-xu
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Methodology to Identify Physical or Computational Experiment Conditions for Uncertainty Mitigation featured image

Methodology to Identify Physical or Computational Experiment Conditions for Uncertainty Mitigation

A methodology for designing computational or physical experiments that mitigate system-level uncertainty, demonstrated on an early-stage Blended-Wing-Body aircraft concept.

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Efe Yarbasi
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A Methodology for Identifying Experiments for Uncertainty Mitigation in Complex Multi-Disciplinary Design featured image

A Methodology for Identifying Experiments for Uncertainty Mitigation in Complex Multi-Disciplinary Design

A systematic methodology to identify and mitigate epistemic uncertainty in complex, multi-disciplinary aircraft design.

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Efe Yarbasi
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System-Level Identification of Critical Uncertainties to Enable Validation Experiments featured image

System-Level Identification of Critical Uncertainties to Enable Validation Experiments

Identifying the critical system-level uncertainties in a coupled aerostructural analysis to decide which validation experiments to run.

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Efe Yarbasi
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Recent Publications