Self-Driving Cars.. Good or Bad news?

An interesting article by Yuki Noguchi, who interviewed professor Hesham Rakha from Virginia Tech concerning the effects of automated cars on roadway traffic.

Automated cars are expected to eliminate human-error accidents and potentially enable more efficient use of roadways. However, based on traffic simulations, professor Rakha tells that he cannot predict whether automated cars will improve traffic congestion.

“I don’t know the answer,” he says. “If the road is less congested, more people are going to be attracted to that road, and so basically it will become congested because it’s supply and demand.”

The full article is here. Read it and enjoy it!

Next events – Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

More than 13,000 people from about 70 countries — including policymakers, administrators, practitioners, and researchers from government, industry, and academia — will gather for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 96th Annual Meeting.

The event will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 8-12, and will involve more than 5,000 presentations at over 800 sessions and workshops covering all transportation modes.

More information here and here

12/01 2016 – Conference “Dalla sbarra al flusso libero: tecnologie e sistemi free flow per la rilevazione del transito”

The conference, organized by A4 Mobility S.r.l. e Kapsch TrafficCom S.r.l. with the collaboration of Ordine degli Ingegneri di Verona took place in Verona the 1st December 2016.

The goal of the meeting was introducing characteristics and benefits of multilane free flow detection systems, and cutting-edge applications in different road environments, including toll collection without the need of stopping vehicles in traditional toll plazas, and the automated access management to restricted traffic zones in urban centers.

Some details here.

Transport of the future – Trends for Smart Mobility

Which will be the future for transport? Deloitte Consuting Company published a research report on Transportation and Smart Mobility which provides a framework for predicting the trends that will shape the transport industry.
The 5 key trends identified to the future of transportation are:

User-centered
Mobility services will put travelers in control; public transport will become personal. This changes the approach to operations and planning based on users’ choices and priorities. Staff will adopt ‘digital uniforms’, so that they have the information to support customers.

Integrated and intelligent transport networks
Integrated and intelligent systems will monitor demand, measure performance, respond in real-time to manage capacity and predict and avoid disruption.

Pricing and payments
Digitalization of tickets and payments will transform metro services and allow all rail operators to follow airlines by adopting e-tickets. Beyond contactless payments, pay as you travel will be based simply on location.

Automation and safety
This aspect of transportation will benefit from the exponential potential of cognitive technology, with the potential to save millions of lives worldwide, particularly on the roads.

Public and private innovation
These sectors will work together to meet the mobility challenges of the 21st century – public sector has a critical role to stimulate advances and protect citizens whilst private sector entrants will take advantage of peer-to-peer models, digital and mobile technology, and low costs to scale globally.

Read the full report here

Next events – Seminar in Rome

Professor Francesco Viti, Associate Professor in Transportation Engineering at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication of the University of Luxembourg, will hold the seminar “Understanding And Modelling Transport And Mobility In The Era Of Big Data” November 24 at Roma Tre University (Rome).

Case studies in Luxembourg will be presented to describe two applications concerning the use of Big Data in transportation modelling and the development of Smart Mobility strategies based on integrated solutions, multi modality and sharing services.

More details here.

10/28 2016 – Mobility as a Service

 

In these days the project is working on the analysis of some mobility trends for the future.

The most promising and challenging changes will be introduced by Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept, which will produce a shift from personally owned modes of transportation (mainly car) to mobility solutions (traditional and innovative) consumed as a service.

Transportation services provided by public and private agents will be unified in a common platform that manages trips, which users can pay for with a single account. Travel needs will be satisfied on-demand by a wide range of innovative mobility services thanks to the integration of multiple modes of transport and advanced payment systems.

For more information: Maas Alliance

10/14 2016 – On going analysis

The project is now focusing on Traffic Control Centers, which are the core of motorway mobility management, since they integrate data collected from different sources and process them to form the basis for the implementation of strategic measures.

In the future we are expected to see a revolutionary shift from “Conventional roads” to “Smart Roads” driven by new technologies, as reported by Italian Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti in a new project.

More details here: Smart Roads Project

Next events – 2016 ITS World Congress

The 23rd World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) will take place in Melbourne, Australia, from October 10 – 14, 2016.

The theme of the Congress, “ITS—Enhancing Livable Cities and Communities,” will address the many benefits that ITS technologies bring to our daily lives and to our increasingly connected global economy.

The Congress will be one of the most valuable event of 2016 for ITS since represents an opportunity for policymakers, investors, practitioners, researchers and ITS providers to learn about the latest innovations and discuss best practices with other in our future transportation.

http://www.itsworldcongress2016.com/

09/15 2016 – First Steps

In these first weeks the project is moving its first steps.

We are now analysing existing integrated mobility management platforms, with the aim of identifying main features (architectures, technologies, instruments).
The project will benefit from this analysis to highlight main trends in smart mobility solutions and intelligent transport systems.