Flexible Mobility On-Demand: An Environmental Scan (original) (raw)

Challenges and opportunities in deploying a mobility platform integrating public transport and carpooling services

2018

This paper introduces a new mobility platform that favours reducing individual car use, by combining car flexibility with advantages offered by public transport, such as punctuality, comfort, safety and low environmental impact. Such platform services are delivered by means of a smartphone app that, thanks to advanced artificial intelligence algorithms, performs multimodal vehicle routing by accounting for walking, public transport and car-pooling rides. To explore citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards SocialCar, and assess its overall business potential, we tested a prototype version in Canton Ticino (Southern Switzerland), engaging common citizens and their everyday mobility needs. In this paper we first present the app and the route planning algorithms we developed to match travel demand and offer, commenting on the challenges to be addressed when using real-life data (shortcomings in mapping, public transport and car-pooling data). Then, we describe the methodology used to...

Role of Intelligent Transport Systems ( Its ) Applications in the Uptake of Mobility on Demand Services

2019

Flexible demand mobility services and shared mobility are presented as the way forward to achieve Mobility as a Service (MaaS). However, the introduction of ride sharing mobility services in urban areas is challenging the balance between private and public transport. The use of mobile applications has enabled private operators to easily reach the customers, collect data and learn from the usage of the service. Most of the time the operator works in isolation, which is disruptive and not sustainable at scale. Mobility services operators don’t follow a specific strategy prior to activating a service but undergo a process of trial and error in the attempt to attract demand, however, they could provide a useful asset for the public transport sector, extending the catchment area of services and acting as feeder for the fixed scheduled public transport.

Current and future challenges for urban mobility

2018

SocialCar integrates carpooling with existing transportation modes in urban and peri-urban areas. The system is based on algorithms that plan routes for users and rely on a considerable amount of heterogeneous data. Social networks also play a role. Autonomous vehicles are emerging and will revolutionize transport. We try to understand the impact they could have in a system like SocialCar. Key-Words: Urban mobility, carpooling, public transportation, autonomous vehicles, self/driving cars, social media. 1 The SocialCar EU Project SocialCar is an EU H2020 research project that aims to develop an intelligent transport system based on an innovative approach to transport demand management, and more specifically to carpooling (also known as lift-sharing in the UK and ridesharing in the US) in urban and peri-urban areas. The overall objective is to develop a new communication network for intelligent mobility, sharing information on car-pooling integrated with existing transport and mobili...

The Future of Personal Urban Mobility – Towards Digital Transformation The Future of Personal Urban Mobility – Towards Digital Transformation

The integration of digital technologies into vehicles, traffic systems and infrastructures has been increasingly shaping our everyday experiences of mobility. In this study, we aim to understand the extent to which digitalization impacts personal urban mobility as we know it. By conducting a systematic literature review in the fields of information systems, transport, and automobile technologies, we identified four main themes that help shed light on this phenomenon: (1) mobility solutions, (2) intelligent mobility infrastructure, (3) partial virtualization of mobility and (4) enhanced mobility experience. In these themes, we observed that the effects of digitalization are double sided: While digitalization is transforming personal urban mobility by providing users with a seamless, safer and more flexible mobility experience, it also brings concerns of data security and privacy that can negatively influence users' acceptance of new mobility concepts. With the growing relevance of digital technologies in both society and organizations, our study provides implications and promising directions for further research in this interdisciplinary research field.

Transportation and Mobility: It is a Brave New World!

There is no doubt that many of you reading this final technology blog have heard about the rapidly-changing transportation landscape. The term “public transportation” has a different meaning than it used to, and we no longer think about traveling on individual modes – we think about the trip as a whole. This technology blog post describes the new transportation ecosystem, what everything in the ecosystem has in common, the impacts on mobility as a result of the numerous partnerships being formed between transit agencies and transportation network companies (TNCs) or micro-transit services, and new mobility options available to travelers.

Reshaped Urban Mobility

Urban Design, 2019

The application of novel solutions in vehicle and information technologies and the need for sustainability result in significant change in urban mobility. Moreover, autonomous vehicles (AVs) are expected to contribute to this alteration as well. The mobility is considered not only a single trip from A to B anymore but a comprehensive service. Shared and demand-driven services are more and more available besides traditional transportation modes. Modes are presented, evaluated, and compared, giving a realistic scenario for upcoming changes and opportunities. The development of the passenger transportation system requires an integrated approach considering user expectations. It is facilitated by the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), in which improvement of the quality has higher relevance than before. The impacts of the alteration are also summarized.