ITS project ready for test stage
Researchers are testing new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solutions in six European cities to improve urban mobility, cut emissions and boost opportunities for high-tech European SMEs.
The EU-funded OPTICITIES project, launched in November 2013, has developed and tested a series of ITS solutions designed to optimise the movement of people and goods in urban areas. The ultimate goal is to improve the urban environment and expand the market for European SMEs in the ITS solutions sector.
Since February 2016, project partners and local end-users in six partner cities have been conducting pilot tests of 14 new ITS services, which will feed into guidelines to help replicate the results across Europe.
The pilots are the culmination of almost three years of research and development. Partner cities have developed innovative systems and ways of collecting quality transport data, which will help transport users, network managers and local decision makers identify and select the most sustainable and efficient transport solutions.
Project co-ordinator Jean Coldefy from the Urban Mobility Department of Lyon Metropole, France, said: “We estimate that increasing data quality, data access and improving information services will boost the European ITS solutions market by an additional €211m per year.”
OPTICITIES also aims to achieve a 10% decrease in car use, generating a gain of around 3.6 million square metres of public space within the participating cities.
Coldefy said: “Intelligent urban mobility will help cities to become more environmentally sustainable.
“Transport generates some 30% of CO2 and micro-particle emissions, of which 95% come from cars and trucks. Long-term objectives require strong and co-ordinated actions, and a service approach to optimise existing infrastructure is needed to meet increasing mobility demand. This is what this project aims to achieve.”
