Given the critical importance of mobility and logistics services to our social and economic lives, technologies and solutions that increase the efficiency of these services can have a major societal impact. These inspiring technologies and solutions are the focus of a large number of European R&D and innovation projects, many of which will be showcased at the ITS European Congress in Brainport Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on 3-6 June, 2019.
Technologies that encourage safety and efficiency increases across a range of mobility and logistics services, ensuring people travel more easily and speeding up service delivery, are of keen interest. Connectivity solutions are the focus of a number of projects being implemented by ERTICO, a public-private partnership that develops, promotes and deploys Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS).
Safety and Efficiency gains
“Connectivity and cooperative solutions are key building blocks when it comes to improving the safety and efficiency of mobility and logistics, enabling systems to handle ever increasing levels of data and supporting new smart services and applications that benefit people’s lives,” ERTICO-ITS Europe CEO Jacob Bangsgaard said.
This sentiment was echoed by Jos van Kleef, CEO of Goudappel, a sponsor of the upcoming ITS European Congress. “The most exciting projects are in the area of data and connectivity,” van Kleef said. “Real-time connectivity applications are now entering the market, making it possible to get a live picture of the situation on the roads. This, in turn, makes real-time traffic management a possibility.”
One ERTICO-managed project that will leverage 5G in support of Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) is 5G-MOBIX. Officially launched last November, this project is part of the second phase of the European Commission’s 5G Public Private Partnership (5GPPP), a joint initiative between the Commission and the European ICT industry. 5G MOBIX is conducting CCAM trials along two cross-border corridors between Spain and Portugal, a short corridor between Greece and Turkey, and six national urban sites in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland.
These trials will help define cooperation models to advance the automated mobility agenda. They will also explore new business opportunities for connected and automated mobility services and provide recommendations and options for the roll-out of CCAM solutions.
Another project is C-MobILE, an effort to accelerate the large scale deployment of multimodal cooperative ITS (C-ITS) in eight European cities and regions, using hybrid short range and cellular connectivity through an array of service bundles addressing urban mobility challenges for car drivers, but also trucks and buses, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.
These projects result in streamlined mobility solutions and a better transport experience for users, with better-managed traffic flows, and access to a wide range of innovative transport services, from automated buses and commuter services to automated valet services for the elderly – the possibilities are endless.
Empowering the user
A key common element of these projects is their user-centric outlook. Nowhere is this truer than in the concept of mobility as a service, or MaaS. Multimodal by nature, the MaaS concept goes beyond multimodality and ground transportation, integrating different mobility services into a single seamless personalised and economical mobility experience to users.
“MaaS empowers the passenger, providing a personalised and unique travel experience, addressing different needs and creating a more inclusive society. MaaS can be seen also as the mobility sector’s response to the calls of the circular economy; it builds on existing services, infrastructure and modes of transport, upgrading the ways they are combined, integrated and used, thus reducing inefficiencies in the system,” said Piia Karjalainen, coordinator of the MaaS Alliance at ERTICO-ITS Europe.
Liad Itzhak, SVP Head of HERE Mobility said “To truly empower passengers, it is critical to create a versatile and democratised mobility market, one where a variety of transportation options are available. Without giving people visibility into this variety and availability, economic, environmental, and societal advancements in the transport sector will be limited to how much they benefit transportation monopolies, instead of passengers, cities, and our quality of life.”
Goudappel CEO Jos van Kleef noted that, while technology is keeping pace with mobility requirements, regulation and public awareness are two areas where more work is needed. “In this area, government and industry need to cooperate to find working solutions,” he said.
This is something that the MaaS Alliance is helping to facilitate, by creating and enabling attractive and technically interoperable environment for smart mobility solutions and providing a forum for the sharing of best practices regarding all aspects of multimodal mobility services.
The changing face of logistics
It is not only passenger services that are being made more efficient thanks to technological advances. Connectivity solutions and other cutting-edge technologies like 5G, ITS-G5, IoT, end-to-end visibility networks, Artificial Intelligence and blockchain are being leveraged to change the face of the logistics and mobility sector.
Connectivity is a core element of ERTICO’s AEOLIX project, which is leveraging digital technologies to improve efficiency and to contribute to transport and logistics digitalisation of goods supply chains in Europe, making these more economically and environmentally sustainable, as well as trusted and secure.
“MaaS as well as AEOLIX will be vital to deal with the mobility challenges of the future. The two projects are based on the collection of data about mobility services and making them visible to providers. The impact of such practices will reduce the pressure on traffic and parking by enabling even more smart mobility solutions to be offered on the market. On top of that they provide a wealth of data that we can use to improve safety, sustainability and efficiency in traffic management and logistics to improve the quality of life,” said Klaas Rozema, International Research Director, Dynniq.
Platooning, in which trucks equipped with state-of-the-art driving support systems communicate with each other and travel in a convoy, is reducing costs and increasing efficiency in trucking. ENSEMBLE, an H2020 project using ITS-G5 technologies, is paving the way for the adoption of multi-brand truck platooning, to assist drivers and improve traffic safety. ENSEMBLE is also working together with CONCORDA, a project that will contribute to the preparation of European motorways for automated driving and high density truck platooning.
Join us for the 2019 ITS European Congress
The projects mentioned above and other cutting edge solutions will be showcased at the ITS European Congress in Brainport Eindhoven, which will bring together all the main stakeholders working in smart mobility and the digitalisation of transport.
If you are interested in the future of mobility, then the ITS European Congress is an unmissable opportunity to join important discussions, share your knowledge and learn about the latest technologies and policy developments in Europe.
The ITS European Congress has partnered with Intelligent Transport to produce a series of webinars taking place between March and May in support of the Congress. If you would like to attend the first webinar which will feature ERTICO Experts and Partners of the Congress, please register below. The webinar will take place on 13 March 2019 at 15:00 CET.
Click here to register for the webinar
