Sector index · Industry and infrastructure · 2026
Vehicles, electric and autonomous driving, rail and transport systems, including the aerodynamics of trains and road vehicles.
Ranked universities have at least 20 verified industry works in this sector (2021-2025). Score: volume 30%, reach 25% (company groups with 2+ joint works), repeat partnerships 25% (3+ works over 2+ years) and network influence 20%, each as a percentile within this sector's pool of 72.
| # | University | Country | Score | Works | Partners | Leading partners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tongji University | China | 98.4 | 176 | 31 | SAIC MotorSTATE-OWNED, Dongfeng MotorSTATE-OWNED, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 2 | Tsinghua University | China | 97.4 | 147 | 26 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, Dongfeng MotorSTATE-OWNED |
| 3 | Southwest Jiaotong University | China | 97.2 | 240 | 21 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, CRRCSTATE-OWNED, China Railway Design CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 4 | Beijing Jiaotong University | China | 94.3 | 134 | 20 | China Railway Design CorporationSTATE-OWNED, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, Beijing Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute |
| 5 | Central South University | China | 93.3 | 146 | 15 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, China Railway Design CorporationSTATE-OWNED, Guangzhou Metro GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 6 | Wuhan University of Technology | China | 92.6 | 138 | 18 | China Ocean Shipping, Dongfeng Motor GroupSTATE-OWNED, Dongfeng MotorSTATE-OWNED |
| 7 | Southeast University | China | 91.6 | 115 | 19 | China Design GroupSTATE-OWNED, Huawei Technologies, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 8 | Zhejiang University | China | 86.9 | 78 | 16 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Aero Engine Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Chery Automobile |
| 9 | Jilin University | China | 86.4 | 106 | 11 | First Automotive WorksSTATE-OWNED, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Dongfeng MotorSTATE-OWNED |
| 10 | Beihang University | China | 86.2 | 74 | 17 | Commercial Aircraft Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Geely, Baidu |
| 11 | Chalmers University of Technology | Sweden | 85.4 | 89 | 11 | Volvo, Volvo Cars, SSPA |
| 12 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China | 84.3 | 75 | 15 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, China Ocean Shipping, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED |
| 13 | Technical University of Munich | Germany | 80.5 | 58 | 12 | BMW Group, Siemens, Audi |
| 14 | RWTH Aachen University | Germany | 79.1 | 56 | 11 | FEV, fka, Siemens |
| 15 | Beijing Institute of Technology | China | 77.7 | 56 | 10 | Inner Mongolia Electric Power, Foton Motors, China North Industries Group CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 16 | Harbin Institute of Technology | China | 75.0 | 50 | 12 | Harbin Electric CorporationSTATE-OWNED, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, Harbin Boiler |
| 17 | Chongqing University | China | 72.4 | 50 | 9 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Dongfeng Motor GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 18 | Delft University of Technology | Netherlands | 67.5 | 54 | 13 | China Ocean Shipping, Siemens, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 19 | Chang'an University | China | 66.6 | 55 | 7 | CCCC Highway ConsultantsSTATE-OWNED, China Communications Construction CompanySTATE-OWNED, Construction Development |
| 20 | Tianjin University | China | 65.5 | 42 | 8 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Tianjin Research Institute of Electric ScienceSTATE-OWNED, Chery Automobile |
| 21 | South China University of Technology | China | 64.3 | 46 | 9 | China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, Guangzhou Automobile Group, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering CompanySTATE-OWNED |
| 22 | Technische Universität Dresden | Germany | 63.3 | 45 | 8 | TomTom, Baidu, Audi |
| 23 | Jiangsu University | China | 62.1 | 46 | 7 | Chery Automobile, BYD, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group |
| 24 | Huazhong University of Science and Technology | China | 61.0 | 49 | 9 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Tesco, BaosteelSTATE-OWNED |
| 25 | Hanyang University | South Korea | 59.0 | 38 | 6 | Hyundai Motors, Mando Corporation, Samsung |
| 26 | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | Hong Kong | 58.3 | 41 | 10 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, China Ocean Shipping, China Railway Construction CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 27 | Hunan University | China | 57.7 | 40 | 12 | ThermoLift, CRRCSTATE-OWNED, State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED |
| 28 | University of Michigan | United States | 57.0 | 58 | 5 | Ford Motor Company, Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, General Motors |
| 29 | Beijing University of Technology | China | 53.4 | 42 | 8 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, Beijing Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, China Electronics Technology Group CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 30 | Dalian University of Technology | China | 52.5 | 34 | 9 | China Railway Bridge and Tunnel Technologies Co. Ltd.STATE-OWNED, China Communications Construction CompanySTATE-OWNED, Jiangling Motors Corporation |
| 31 | Xi'an Jiaotong University | China | 50.8 | 42 | 4 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Shanghai ElectricSTATE-OWNED, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 32 | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | Germany | 50.4 | 32 | 6 | Mercedes-Benz, Schaeffler, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 33 | Guangxi University | China | 50.2 | 33 | 6 | CRRCSTATE-OWNED, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group, SAIC-GM-Wuling |
| 33 | North China Electric Power University | China | 50.2 | 50 | 4 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, Inner Mongolia Electric Power |
| 35 | Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics | China | 50.1 | 38 | 5 | Aero Engine Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Chery Automobile, Zhejiang VIE Science & Technology |
| 36 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | 49.7 | 38 | 7 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, China Railway Design CorporationSTATE-OWNED, Alibaba Group |
| 37 | Wuhan University | China | 49.5 | 36 | 6 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, China United Network Communications GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 38 | Seoul National University | South Korea | 49.3 | 34 | 6 | Hyundai Motors, Samsung, Korean Register |
| 39 | Harbin Engineering University | China | 45.8 | 30 | 5 | China State ShipbuildingSTATE-OWNED, China Shipbuilding Industry CorporationSTATE-OWNED, China National Offshore Oil CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 40 | Politecnico di Milano | Italy | 45.5 | 34 | 7 | Pirelli, Brembo, Volvo |
| 41 | Hefei University of Technology | China | 45.1 | 31 | 7 | JAC Motors, State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Chery Automobile |
| 42 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 44.4 | 43 | 4 | Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Mitsubishi Electric, East Japan Railway |
| 43 | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | Sweden | 43.0 | 32 | 4 | Scania, Volvo, Brembo |
| 44 | Université Paris-Saclay | France | 38.9 | 24 | 5 | Safran, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, Safran Electronics |
| 45 | Fuzhou University | China | 36.2 | 28 | 7 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Tesco, China Shipbuilding Industry CorporationSTATE-OWNED |
| 46 | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences | China | 35.2 | 30 | 6 | Baidu, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)STATE-OWNED |
| 47 | University of Science and Technology Beijing | China | 34.6 | 30 | 6 | Taiyuan Iron and Steel GroupSTATE-OWNED, China MobileSTATE-OWNED, China Academy Of Machinery Science & TechnologySTATE-OWNED |
| 48 | Technische Universität Darmstadt | Germany | 34.2 | 24 | 7 | Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce |
| 49 | Purdue University West Lafayette | United States | 33.0 | 26 | 3 | Spectral Energies, John Deere, Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories |
| 50 | Norwegian University of Science and Technology | Norway | 32.1 | 24 | 5 | DNV, Volvo, ExxonMobil |
| 51 | University of California, Berkeley | United States | 31.1 | 24 | 7 | Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Amazon, CRRCSTATE-OWNED |
| 52 | Dalian Maritime University | China | 30.8 | 30 | 4 | China Ocean Shipping, China Shipbuilding Industry CorporationSTATE-OWNED, China State ShipbuildingSTATE-OWNED |
| 53 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 30.5 | 26 | 7 | Huawei Technologies, Didi Chuxing, Tencent |
| 54 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | South Korea | 29.4 | 29 | 3 | Hyundai Motors, Samsung, Korea Expressway Corporation |
| 55 | The Ohio State University | United States | 28.6 | 22 | 4 | Ford Motor Company, Cummins, DHL |
| 56 | Aalto University | Finland | 28.4 | 26 | 4 | Napa, China Ocean Shipping, MoTeC |
| 57 | Graz University of Technology | Austria | 27.9 | 22 | 5 | Mercedes-Benz, Anstalt für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List, Plasser and Theurer |
| 58 | Guangdong University of Technology | China | 27.0 | 27 | 7 | China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, Acentech, Beiijao Zane Rail Technology (Beijing |
| 59 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | 24.8 | 26 | 6 | Honda, China Railway Design CorporationSTATE-OWNED, Shell |
| 60 | University of Zagreb | Croatia | 23.9 | 20 | 3 | Ford Motor Company, Ericsson, Ford |
| 61 | Shandong University | China | 23.7 | 24 | 5 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Hisense, Weichai Power |
| 62 | Northwestern Polytechnical University | China | 22.5 | 24 | 4 | China State ShipbuildingSTATE-OWNED, China Shipbuilding Industry CorporationSTATE-OWNED, Ceyear Technologies |
| 63 | National University of Singapore | Singapore | 19.6 | 26 | 4 | Amazon, China Shipbuilding Industry CorporationSTATE-OWNED, China Ocean Shipping |
| 64 | Shenzhen University | China | 18.2 | 24 | 3 | China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED, China Southern Power GridSTATE-OWNED, Sensetime |
| 65 | Technical University of Denmark | Denmark | 17.4 | 21 | 3 | DNV, VattenfallSTATE-OWNED, StatnettSTATE-OWNED |
| 66 | China University of Mining and Technology | China | 17.0 | 21 | 4 | Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, China Coal Technology and Engineering Group CorpSTATE-OWNED, China Railway GroupSTATE-OWNED |
| 67 | Peking University | China | 15.4 | 28 | 3 | State Grid Corporation of ChinaSTATE-OWNED, Weichai Power, Alibaba Group |
| 68 | Sun Yat-sen University | China | 12.3 | 25 | 2 | China MobileSTATE-OWNED, China Offshore Engineering & Technology, Guangzhou Port Group |
| 69 | Hiroshima University | Japan | 10.8 | 20 | 2 | Mazda Motor Corporation, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Japan Marine Science |
| 70 | Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | China | 9.8 | 22 | 2 | China MobileSTATE-OWNED, Sensetime, Sony |
| 71 | University of Trento | Italy | 8.5 | 22 | 1 | Brembo, Material and Metallurgical Research, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles |
| 72 | University of Waterloo | Canada | 7.3 | 20 | 3 | General Motors, Huawei Technologies, First Automotive WorksSTATE-OWNED |
Leading partners: up to three company groups with the most joint works in the sector. State-owned enterprises are marked; a partner whose name is withheld is not listed.
Funded partnerships (reported, not scored). 214 UK and EU projects starting 2021 to 2025 (62 UKRI, 152 Horizon) involve a cohort university and a company group whose main sector, by its verified joint works, is this one (199 universities): most often NEC Laboratories Europe, Tesco, FEV, Trenitalia, RISA Sicherheitsanalysen. Sources: UKRI Gateway to Research harvested 4 Oct 2026; CORDIS bulk files of 2026-10-12 (latest record update 2026-06-10). Funded partnerships cover UK (UKRI Gateway to Research) and EU (Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, CORDIS) projects starting 2021 to 2025 only. They are reported, never scored, and a funder record outside these two sources is not visible here.
Advanced Thermodynamic Systems and Engines; Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Safety; Brake Systems and Friction Analysis; Combustion and flame dynamics; Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure; Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technologies; IoT and GPS-based Vehicle Safety Systems; Maritime Navigation and Safety; Maritime Ports and Logistics; Railway Engineering and Dynamics; Railway Systems and Materials Science; Ship Hydrodynamics and Maneuverability; Smart Parking Systems Research; Soil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics; Technical Engine Diagnostics and Monitoring; Traffic Prediction and Management Techniques; Traffic and Road Safety; Traffic control and management; Transport Systems and Technology; Transport and Logistics Innovations; Transportation Systems and Logistics; Transportation Systems and Safety; Underwater Vehicles and Communication Systems; Urban Transport Systems Analysis; Urban and Freight Transport Logistics; Vehicle Dynamics and Control Systems; Vehicle Noise and Vibration Control; Vehicle Routing Optimization Methods
Open data
The full Automotive and Mobility ranking (rank, university, country, score, sector works, partners and leading partners) as an Excel workbook. Every other index is in the all-indices workbook.
Released under CC BY 4.0: reuse freely with attribution to the Industry Collaboration Index, Global Research Partnerships. How it is measured.