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Ing. Lukáš Kacar

2026, 2026 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP), IEEE eXplore), p. 1-7), ISBN 979-8-3315-8260-9, ISSN 2831-5618

Autonomous public transport is becoming an integral component of the Smart City paradigm and, concurrently, a key element of critical urban infrastructure. Besides operational benefits, increasing automation, connectivity, and digitalization introduce updated requirements for security, reliability, and resilience against cyberattacks and unintended system behaviors. This article presents a methodological and technological framework for deploying autonomous public transport management in urban environments, with a special emphasis on rail-based modes and their safe integration into a city’s critical infrastructure. The proposed approach combines dynamic HD maps, a digital twin of the urban environment, and cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) to achieve precise localization, enhanced situational awareness, and real-time data exchange among vehicles, infrastructure, and dispatch centers. Vehicle and infrastructure sensors feed a unified data platform that supports monitoring, diagnostics, and operational control. The architecture prioritizes secure data transmission, network segmentation, access control, and cyber-threat mitigation to ensure business continuity and high service availability.

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference

2026, 2026 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP), IEEE eXplore), ISBN 979-8-3315-8260-9, ISSN 2831-5618

The article deals with the issue of integrating public transport of regional capitals into integrated regional public transport systems. The aim of the work is to analyze the degree and forms of fare integration in thirteen regional cities, focusing on the conditions for short-term single fares, which best reflect the actual interconnection of urban and regional transport from the passenger's point of view. Based on four predefined criteria of the proposed methodology, individual cities are compared in terms of acceptation of state discounts, the existence of parallel public transport fares, the price differentiation between urban and regional zones, and differences between the use of urban and regional lines within the urban area. The results show considerable heterogeneity in the approaches of individual regions, which is conditioned by institutional arrangements, tariff policy, and the technical capabilities of ticketing systems. Plzeň, Liberec, Jihlava, and Ústí nad Labem show the highest degree of integration, while in Ostrava and Olomouc there are still significant tariff differences between urban and regional transport. Prague and Brno achieve a medium level of integration, with their extensive public transport systems posing a specific challenge in terms of financing social discounts. The study also confirms the tendency between the size of a regional capital and the level of integration of city public transport into integrated public transport systems (IPTS) and points to the influence of the fare model used. The article emphasizes that full fare and operational integration brings significant benefits to passengers but requires intensive coordination between cities, regions, and their transport organizers. The conclusions of the study can help in the integration process of public transport in the Czech Republic. If the initial assumptions are met, these conclusions may also be applied abroad.

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference

2026, 2026 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP), IEEE eXplore), ISBN 979-8-3315-8260-9, ISSN 2831-5618

The highly automated and autonomous operation of trains is becoming an integral part of future smart urban mobility systems. Although Grade of Automation (GoA) 3 and GoA4 are already deployed in closed metro networks, extending autonomous operation to open urban and suburban rail environments introduces new safety challenges due to interactions with pedestrians, road traffic, level crossings and heterogeneous city infrastructure. In this context, the perception system plays a critical role as a cooperative interface between the autonomous train, the surrounding urban environment, and other smart mobility subsystems. Replaces the situational awareness traditionally provided by a human driver and enables safe operation in complex, partially uncontrolled city environments. This article presents a safety analysis of a perception system for autonomous train operation in open rail networks, using a top-down risk assessment approach aligned with the Common Safety Methods (CSM) and the CENELEC EN 50126 standard. The failure modes of perception functions are identified, their impact on operational and public safety is evaluated, and their interaction with key railway systems such as ETCS and ATO is analyzed. The results support the safe integration of perception-based autonomy into smart city rail ecosystems, provided that clear responsibility boundaries, external safety barriers, and conservative safety integrity requirements are applied. The paper contributes to the concept of cooperative cities by demonstrating how autonomous rail systems can safely coexist and cooperate with urban infrastructure, road users, and citizens.

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference

2026, 2026 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP), IEEE eXplore), ISBN 979-8-3315-8260-9, ISSN 2831-5618

Urban traffic management increasingly relies on accurate, timely and robust traffic detection to support safe, efficient and sustainable mobility in complex urban environments. While a wide range of traffic detection technologies is currently available, many limitations persist due to fragmented data utilization, limited interoperability and sensor-centric system architectures. This paper provides a structured review of commonly used urban traffic detection technologies and analyses their technical and system-level limitations. Based on this analysis, a data-centric reference architecture is proposed, which decouples traffic detection capabilities from individual sensing technologies and enables the integration of heterogeneous infrastructure-based sensors, mobile data and C-ITS sources through harmonization and AI-based multi-source fusion. Rather than presenting a concrete system implementation, the proposed architecture serves as a conceptual framework supporting resilient, scalable and future-ready traffic detection. Its relevance is illustrated using representative use cases focusing on vulnerable road user detection, predictive traffic management and incident handling. The paper argues that use case-driven, data-centric architectural design represents a key enabler for next-generation urban traffic management in smart city environments.

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference

2025, Transactions on Transport Sciences, 16 (3), p. 10-15), ISSN 1802-9876

This contribution discusses the issue of approaching safety issues for newly introduced autonomous rail vehicle operation systems with the GoA3/GoA4 automation level. In particular, the paper discusses the issue of normative requirements for establishing and demonstrating safety requirements that are in place today for railway systems. The paper seeks to define the minimum criteria or processes that should be met and demonstrated in order for autonomous train operation to be accepted as sufficiently safe for commercial operation.

Article in a journal indexed in the Scopus database in a foreign language

2025, 2025 Smart City Symposium Prague - IEEE proceedings, New York, IEEE Press), ISBN 979-8-3315-2551-4, ISSN 2831-5618

The sustainable development of urban technological and technical systems is closely linked to the acquisition of relevant data and information. Such information is crucial not only for the effective management and administration of these systems but also for identifying critical risk points and monitoring the life cycle of infrastructure. A key element is the use of information modeling and predictive approaches that facilitate continuous monitoring throughout the entire operational phase, thereby ensuring effective maintenance planning. This paper synthesizes various methods and technologies employed in the information modeling of technological systems and explores their application in the modeling and simulation of external factors affecting transport infrastructure. Particular emphasis is placed on the predictive maintenance of technological equipment, with tunnel technology analyzed as a case study a key component of urban transport and technological infrastructure. The primary objective is to demonstrate

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference

2025, Inżynieria Mineralna, 2 (2), ISSN 1640-4920

Autonomous train operation (defined by the on-board part of the ATO - Automatic Train Operation) is a key innovation in rail transport, bringing increased efficiency and safety. Ensuring ATO safety is a key challenge that can be addressed by integration with the European Train Control System (ETCS). This paper focuses on using ETCS safety mechanisms to ensure the safety of autonomous train control. The following paper analyses the possibility of taking over the ETCS safety guarantees into the ATO. It focuses on the different types of data provided by the ETCS, including static train data, dynamic data (movement authority, speed profile, gradient, localization, ETCS modes and traction) and information about the braking capabilities of the train. The key question is whether this information can be relied upon to implement autonomous control without additional redundant mechanisms. According to the RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety) analysis, existing safety features can be adopted if the risks corresponding to the subsystem are sufficiently reduced and there is a secure link between the ATO and the ETCS systems. The specific physical interconnection via Ethernet plays an important role here. This link is described directly in the European Railway Agency specifications. Twelve packets of information are transmitted through this link. The aim is to verify whether it is possible to take over the safety guarantees of the ETCS for the ATO and to find the interface requirements between these systems. The main requirements of the ATO functions that process the ETCS information are to stop safely at a defined location, to keep to the schedule within the conditions specified by the ETCS, to optimize the speed for efficient traction energy consumption and to start the station check-in sequence only after all safety conditions have been met. The methodology includes the analysis of the common interface between the ATO and the ETCS and applying RAMS procedures to identify and mitigate risks. The following paper describes that the ETCS provides robust safety barriers during standard train operation at GoA 1 (Grade of Automation), allowing the ATO system to rely on its safety features and focus on the additional risks associated with autonomous control at higher GoA levels. However, the key factor is to ensure a secure connection between the ATO and the ETCS in accordance with the applicable standards. This paper should contribute to a better understanding of the links between the ATO and the ETCS. It also provides important information for the further development of autonomous railway systems.

Article in a journal indexed in the Scopus database

2024, Driver-Car Interaction and Safety Conference 2023, Praha, České vysoké učení technické v Praze), p. 109-113), ISBN 978-80-01-07387-2, ISSN 2336-5382

The article describes the practical experience of testing a specific ticketing system for public transport based on blockchain technology. The testing aimed to verify the overall functionality of the complex system as well as the correct execution of the functions of its selected parts, which consist of several separately developed but closely cooperating subsystems: blockchain, clearing, and mobile application subsystem with support of bank payment system. Communication between the different parts was implemented through APIs developed for this purpose. The availability of API documentation and the implementation on Linux OS allowed the use of sophisticated tools for testing and performing both manual and automated tests. Performed tests made it possible to detect errors in the program code of the respective components and to provide the basis for their elimination. Applied approaches and tools can be used to test similar complex information-handling systems.

Proceedings paper from a prestigious conference (Scopus)