Misinformation Detection for Safe Transportation Systems

This project is focused on developing a methodology for the detection of misinformation regarding transportation systems on social media. A novel dataset combining Twitter and traffic sensor data will be constructed and shared with the broader community. This will be the first large-scale public dataset for research on this topic. A comprehensive characterization of the dataset, correlating traffic events and tweets will be performed. One key question to be investigated is whether misinformation related to transportation follows similar patterns to misinformation in other domains, such as vaccines and politics. Results from the characterization will be applied to identify potential fake tweets related to traffic events. This analysis will be combined with a manual inspection to generate a set of labeled tweets that will be used for training semi-supervised methods for misinformation detection related to transportation. The proposed approach will be compared against alternatives from the literature. The main findings will be summarized in the project report and in at least one publication. Software, datasets, and metadata produced through the project will be made publicly available.

  • Record URL:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, OST-R, University Transportation Center Program, the USDOT Tier 1 UTC Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE).

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $60,000.00
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3552348332

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    University Transportation Centers Program
    Department of Transportation
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Managing Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    University Transportation Centers Program
    Department of Transportation
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Project Managers:

    Zhang, Yunpeng

    Kline, Robin

  • Performing Organizations:

    Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE)

    University of Houston
    Houston, TX  United States 

    Rice University

    Houston, Texas  United States 
  • Principal Investigators:

    Arlei, Silva

  • Start Date: 20230701
  • Expected Completion Date: 20260630
  • Actual Completion Date: 0
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01953919
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE)
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3552348332
  • Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Apr 29 2025 4:51PM