IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION VIA OPTIMAL INTEGRATION WITH SHARED AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A SYSTEMATIC AND SCALABLE APPROACH TO AN OPTIMAL INTEGRATION OF SHARED AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC VEHICLE (SAEV) INTO THE NATION’S PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM, PARTICULARLY IN THE UNITED STATES RURAL TRIBAL COMMUNITIES. THROUGH FIELD EXPERIMENTS AND DEMONSTRATION CONDUCTED IN A RESIDENTIAL TRIBAL COMMUNITY IN OKLAHOMA, THE TEAM EXPECTS TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPACTS OF THE EMERGING AUTONOMOUS AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY ON BOTH THE INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY-LEVEL BENEFITS IN TERMS OF ENSURING ACCESS, EFFICIENCY, EQUITY, AND SAFETY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. DOCUMENTATION OF THE SYSTEM DESIGN, DEPLOYMENT, OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCES, AND THE BUSINESS MODELS WILL PROVIDE A ROADMAP FOR FUTURE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS IN UNDERREPRESENTED RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES OF VARIOUS (LARGER AND SMALLER) SCALES THROUGHOUT THE MIDWEST AND ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. THE OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVES ARE: 1) TO DEVELOP A PUBLIC TRANSIT FLEET THAT INCORPORATES SAE AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC VEHICLES INTO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS TO ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING PERFORMANCE TARGETS: A) PUBLIC TRANSIT ACCESSIBILITY: IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSIT RIDERSHIP BY AT LEAST 20%; B) TRAVEL EFFICIENCY: REDUCE TOTAL PASSENGER TRAVEL TIME PER PASSENGER MILES BY AT LEAST 25%; C) PUBLIC TRANSIT EQUITY: INCREASE THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY INDEX (TSI) BY AT LEAST 60%; AND D) TRANSPORTATION GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSION: REDUCE THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION RELATED GHG EMISSIONS PER PASSENGER MILES BY 40%. 2) CREATE PLANS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AND USER EDUCATION. 3) DEMONSTRATE COMMUNITY BENEFITS THROUGH PILOT TESTS IN THE CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA. 4) DISSEMINATE TECHNO-ECONOMIC FINDINGS TO EXPAND THE SOLUTION TO COMPARABLE COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE.