emover Developing an intelligent, connected, cooperative and versatile e-minibus fleet to complement privately owned vehicles and public transit More and more people in cities are consciously choosing to not own a car. This trend changes established patterns of mobility and raises an important question: How can small and large shopping trips take place spontaneously and heavy or bulky goods be transported? Even with good bus or train connections, comfortably carrying purchases home can be difficult. Starting with this scenario, emover explores a demand-driven and versatile lightweight mobility solution that is independent of private vehicles and public transportation options. Specifically, Fraunhofer IAO will examine if a group of similarly motivated users can practicably share a fleet of e-minibuses. Smart IT infrastructure would allow for on-the-go ordering say, with a smartphone either impromptu or conjointly. Routes could be adjusted and invoiced dynamically according to users individual needs. Fitted with easily interchangeable interiors, the e-minibuses could be used cost-effectively in a variety of ways. The project is interdisciplinary and includes a wealth of different research activities, the most important of which are: Identifying specific user scenarios (field research, data and network analysis) Evaluating user scenarios in regards to feasibility, efficiency and suitability for the use of electric vehicles Designing, developing and evaluating the scheduling algorithms and the human-system interface for needs-based use Designing the minibus interior with the variety of possible uses in mind Developing a prototype Jens Dobberthin e : jens.dobberthin@iao.fraunhofer.de t : +49 711 970-2385
Physical Apps Tailoring and adding functions to standard systems The demands placed on new products are often high. They must offer a wide range of functions, be highly customizable, easy to expand and suitable for use in all sorts of situations. Smartphones, for instance, are extremely easy to personalize and can quickly offer new functions for specific situations thanks to apps and physical accessories such as fitness armbands. In contrast, systems designed with multiple users in mind car sharing, for instance are standardized for a basic usage scenario. This makes it difficult to tailor them to the requirements of individual users. Physical apps or phapps are small modular additions designed to fulfill a specific function based on open interfaces. The hope is that phapps will take standard products designed for multi-use systems and make them customizable, providing new functions for specific situations. Development of the first phapps is underway in the form of a free-floating pedelec system for urban areas. The project is being undertaken with interested partners from industry and local communities and is focusing first of all on developing smart components for a range of applications within a multi-use system. Examples include plug-in energy storage systems, cool boxes and sensors controlled via smartphone. Further action areas include: Development of phapps for pedelecs and infrastructure Pilot implementation initiatives with partners in local communities Denis Horn e : denis.horn@iao.fraunhofer.de t : +49 711 970-5132
Future Urban Taxi Imagining energy-efficient, intelligently used taxis as part of a citywide mobility system What does the taxi of the future look like? The Future Urban Taxi research project is rethinking the taxi from the bottom up: Which requirements do vehicles need to satisfy for individual mobility services? How can taxis be more efficiently integrated into a citywide mobility system? Which interfaces are needed for that? How can taxis be designed more sustainably and attractively for customers? Which smart networking possibilities are available? Understandably, each city s urban conditions play an important role car-sharing providers are serious competitors in Berlin, and bicycles characterize street traffic in Copenhagen. And what happens when there aren t enough taxis available in Singapore? It s already clear that the taxi of the future will be precisely adapted to the particular context of each city s mobility system. Future Urban Taxi comprises the following action areas: Analyzing existing taxi systems worldwide Identifying users and providers fundamental requirements in their respective contexts Conducting detailed and system analysis in selected reference cities Developing scenarios and deriving ideal system components Three key taxi components lie at the heart of this project: Vehicle and interior design City and infrastructure People and use processes Solutions and demonstrators are to be built for selected project components. Susanne Schatzinger e : susanne.schatzinger@iao.fraunhofer.de t : +49 711 970-2305
Urban Driven Developing innovative vehicle and mobility concepts for urban spaces Cities differ fundamentally from each other, in terms of both mobility needs and the prevailing conditions. That is why mobility concepts need to be tailored to each individual city. At the same time, automotive development is also experiencing changes in needs profiles and in design possibilities, from electrification of the powertrain to the increased interlinking of various forms of transport. Urban Driven is a project that aims to determine how vehicles can be designed as a platform and modified to suit cities differing needs. In doing so, it sets itself apart from the conventional development processes to be found in the automotive industry. Project implementation will involve a marketfocused process of innovation comprising the following steps: Analyzing relevant parameters and developing an assessment framework to determine mobility needs in urban areas Conducting surveys and workshops in consultation with consumers, town planners and decision makers Drawing up concepts and describing specifications Organizing workshops to showcase and refine concepts developed to date in consultation with cities and consumers Holding city-specific presentations as well as analysis of feedback on vehicle concepts. The project promises to yield some exciting results that can be carried over into vehicle concepts, all the way from microcars and passenger cars to buses. Sebastian Stegmüller e : sebastian.stegmueller@iao.fraunhofer.de t : +49 711 970-2320
HubCab An ever expanding repository of real-time urban data is revealing the invisible dimensions of our cities today. Each human movement, through a variety of transport modes, leaves traces in digital space and outlines the big data of transportation. New pervasive networked technologies reveal the complexity of travel patterns, interrelated environmental factors, and social dynamics embedded in our transportation systems. HubCab is the latest research project within the Senseable Mobility Initiative, specifically targeting taxi fleet dynamics. The project takes, as a point of departure, the idea of sharing vehicles, and its potential benefits. HubCab is an interactive visualization tool that invites anyone whether commuters or researchers or urban planners to explore an unprecedented dataset: 170 million taxi trips within and through New York City over the course of a year. Our analysis introduces the novel concept of shareability network that allows for efficient modeling and optimization of the trip-sharing opportunities. This mathematical approach makes use of network densification effects and represents a substantial advance over the existing state-of-the-art solutions to social sharing problems. Application of a vehicle sharing system has the potential to slash road congestion, reduce running costs and split fares, and bring about a cleaner environment. Paolo Santi MIT Senseable City Lab e : psanti@mit.edu t : +1 617 324 4474
City Drive Traffic lights are the standard technology for moderating intersection traffic on roads today an inefficient system based on century-old technology. Yet today the automobile industry is on the cusp of fusing with autonomous control systems and real-time digital network optimization, bringing about a new mobility paradigm. Widespread deployment of autonomous driving technology will open the way, specifically, to new modes of intersection management. A system based on individual vehicle slot protocol can algorithmically optimize traffic flows, allowing streams of traffic to merge seamlessly and efficiently. City Drive begins with a sophisticated mathematical model and dynamic analysis of a single intersection, comparing standard and computer-optimized intersection flows. In its future development, the project will scale up to quantify the city-wide benefit of smart intersection management, and will broaden its parameters to explore the quantified metrics of reduced traffic congestion, travel times, and emissions-modeling. Paolo Santi MIT Senseable City Lab e : psanti@mit.edu t : +1 617 324 4474