Associate Professor Dimitrios Karras
Digital and Intelligent Systems & Signal Processing, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Title: Advancements in the Integration of Autonomous Vehicles with Smart Grid and AI Technologies: New Business Models, Challenges and Open Problems
Abstract:
The convergence of autonomous vehicles (AVs), artificial intelligence (AI), and smart grid technologies marks a paradigm shift in transportation
and energy systems. This keynote delves into recent advancements that empower AVs to not only navigate with intelligence, but also interact dynamically with grid infrastructures—enabling bi-directional energy flow, load balancing, and decentralized decision-making. The integration
promises enhanced mobility, energy efficiency, and sustainability, laying the groundwork for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) ecosystems, new business models and intelligent fleet management. Yet, this transformative vision is accompanied by formidable challenges. We address critical open problems including real-time coordination under uncertainty, cybersecurity across vehicle-grid interfaces, scalable AI models for energy prediction and routing, and regulatory alignment across domains. The talk also explores the complexity of data fusion from mobility, energy, and infrastructure sources—emphasizing the need for interoperable standards and ethically driven AI systems. By weaving insights from engineering, computer science, and public policy, this keynote offers a multidisciplinary roadmap for researchers and stakeholders to accelerate the harmonization of AVs and smart grids within intelligent urban ecosystems, based on the speaker's recent research and his contributions within a relevant EU Horizon project
Biography:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitrios A. Karras, Department of Computer Engineering, EPOKA University, Tirane, Albania (https://cen.epoka.edu.al/staff )(since 10/2023) received his Diploma and M.Sc. Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece in 1985 and the Ph.D in Electrical Engineering, NTUA, Greece in 1995, with honors. During 1990-2004 he collaborated as visiting professor and researcher with several universities and research institutes in Greece and Heidelberg, Germany (DKFZ). During 2004-2018 he has been with the Sterea Hellas Institute of Technology, Automation Dept., Greece as assoc. prof. in Digital Systems and Signal Processing, as well as visiting prof. at Hellenic Open University, Dept. Informatics in Communication Systems (2002-2010). Since 1/2019 is Associate Prof. in Digital and Intelligent Systems & Signal Processing, in National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, School of Science, Dept. General (https://en.uoa.gr, dakarras@uoa.gr) as well as adjunct Prof. Dr. with the GLA university, Mathura, India (https://www.gla.ac.in/academics/ faculty-detail/871/prof-dimitrios-karras) and EPOKA & CIT universities, Computer Engineering Dept., Tirana (https://eis.epoka.edu.al/cv/fullcv/301). He has published more than 99 research refereed journal papers in intelligent and distributed/multiagent systems, pattern recognition, image/signal processing and neural networks as well as in bioinformatics, more than 20 edited books and 12 book chapters in international publishers and more than 191 research papers in International refereed scientific Conferences. He has given more than 170 invited and keynote speeches at international conferences. His research interests span the fields of intelligent & distributed systems, complex systems and sustainability, multiagent systems, pattern recognition and computational intelligence, image & signal processing/systems, biomedical systems, communications and networking as well as security and sustainability applications. He has served as program committee member as well as program/general chair at many international peer reviewed conferences and workshops in signal, image, communications, and automation systems as well as he is serving as editor in chief and editorial board member in several peer reviewed journals. Citations of his research works from other researchers (10/9/2024)- excluding self-citations- appear in more than 3500//2300 (Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IxQurTMAAAAJ&hl=en) //Semantic Scholar) and 2622 (ResearchGate Index https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dimitrios_Karras2/, with more than 25433 ResearchGate Index Reads metric) research papers, as well as in more than 1965 research papers in Scopus peer reviewed research database, with H/G indexes 25/73 (Google Scholar), Scopus-H index 20 and RG-Research Interest score 1402 (in the top 5% of the ResearchGate members database).
He is former editor in chief (2008-2016) of the International Journal in Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering (IJSISE). Moreover, he is currently.
• Editor in Chief “International Journal of Innovative Technology and Interdisciplinary Sciences (IJITIS)”, https://www.ijitis.org/index.php/ijitis/about/editorialTeam
• Editor in Chief “International Journal of Applied Mathematics, Computational Science and Systems Engineering”, https://www.wseas.com/journals/amcse/index.php
• Editorial Board Member: Journal Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Elsevier, (2022-ongoing), , https://www.journals.elsevier.com/engineering-applications-of-artificial-intelligence/editorial-board
• Editorial Board Member, Associate editor, Journal CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology, IET Digital Library (2019-ongoing), https://digital-library.theiet.org/journals/trit/editors
• Academic Editor: Journal Applied Computational Intelligence and Soft Computing, Hindawi/Wiley Limited, ISSN 16879724, 16879732 (2021-ongoing)
• Editorial Board Member: Journal Academia Engineering, Academia.edu (https://www.academia.edu/journals/3/academia_engineering/about/editorial_board )