Mission to Space Completed: UITP Closes Automated Vehicles Project
UITP has reached a new milestone with automated vehicles as our pioneering project SPACE comes to a close.
Launched in 2018 with the aim of placing public transport at the centre of the automated vehicles (AVs) revolution, SPACE (Shared Personalised Automated Connected vEhicles) counted more than 50 partners from over 20 countries, and all members of UITP.
Now, after an update in 2020, the project has concluded with a Final Event to present the projects findings and to gather the data on how automated vehicles (AVs) could help build a combined and comprehensive transport ecosystem.
The project’s goal was to investigate how to place public transport at the centre of the AV revolution.
Imagine providing affordable, sustainable and convenient mobility options to all, including people living in suburban or rural areas…that was the focus on the road to better mobility with the launch of the SPACE project.
Many of us rely on public transport every single day: we take the metro to go work, ride the bus to visit loved ones, board a train to explore new countries. But the public transport sector must keep innovating to give people real alternatives to owning a private car.
To reach SPACE, a consortium was built with 50 stakeholders from the global AV ecosystem: public transport authorities and operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), technology suppliers and services providers, as well as research and academic institutes.
During the Final Event, featuring Ruter, ITxPT and VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), the audience heard how SPACE followed the belief that for AVs to contribute to better mobility, how they should be introduced in fleets of shared vehicles and integrated with public transport services, helping cities and regions to reach the goals they set for the future.
Guido Di Pasquale, Deputy Director of Knowledge and Innovation, UITP, said:It is obvious to us that AVs only work if they are integrated as shared mobility and not as independent fleets or, even worse, individual automated vehicles. A green traffic jam is still a traffic jam. It is therefore key that stakeholders such as PTAs and PTOs have a united, active and central role and approach in the planning and deployment of AVs.
With examples of AV deployment, a road (map) to greener cities, harmonised framework for AV operation and stakeholder evaluations, the SPACE project successfully achieved its goal of unveiling the necessary steps towards a meaningful deployment of automated vehicles.
Our AV Mission Continues…
While UITP’s mission to SPACE might be concluded, our mission to support the sector towards a future with automated mobility is speeding on.
UITP decided to create a thematic Working Group on Automated Shared Mobility for its members interested in the challenges around the technology of automation.
This Working Group will deal with specific needs to be identified with the members, producing, and sharing knowledge around Automated Shared Mobility.
- Find out the goals achieved with the concluding SPACE project news
- Read our new Project Brief on the final SPACE missions
This article was originally published by The International Association of Public Transport.
