When mobility is reinvented

Guillaume Georgin: There are environmental, societal and energy-related challenges that will need to be overcome. Everyone, whether they live in cities, the suburbs or rural areas, needs to be able to get about easily. However, we also need to reduce traffic jams and find alternatives to solo-car driving. We are moving towards modes of transportation that are better for the environment. The pace of this change is unpredictable. Who would have imagined ten years ago the explosion of electric scooters and bike lanes that has occurred due to the pandemic? The other emerging trend is that of demand-driven mobility and intermodal transport. Providing services to users will become essential.

Rüdiger Graff: Sustainability and ease of access will become the most important aspects when choosing a mode of transport. Electric vehicles that run on renewable energy will replace combustion engines and they will continue to become more self-sufficient. Rather than owning a car, we will use transport flexibly thanks to the networking of all transport systems, a greater frequency of public transport and (individual or shared) coordinated offers for the last mile. Connectivity, 5G and the IoT (Internet of Things) also pave the way for the autonomous driving of tomorrow. Eventually, there will be entirely new means of trans-port such as drones or air taxis.

G. G.: IT, connected devices and sensors in the cities widen the possibilities, make journeys easier to organise and monitor, and enable a higher level of service for users by aggregating all the information necessary for their journeys. Artificial intelligence also makes it possible to analyse behaviours and to integrate mobility into the overall management of the smart city.

R. G.: Artificial intelligence could also be useful for offsetting large fluctuations in the power grid by using data from the batteries of hundreds of vehicles. With the vehicle-to-grid approach, vehicles absorb energy when there is a surplus in the grid and return it when there is a high demand, while ensuring that they retain a sufficient amount of power for their own needs.

R. G.: One of our prime focuses is the mobility transition and the comprehensive implementation of charging infrastructures. With now more than 7,000 installed charging points in Germany, we have built up a broad range of expertise. Last year together with RheinEnergie we founded the jointly controlled entity TankE GmbH, which provides a full service offer throughout the whole of Germany, with standard charging and invoicing possibilities for electric vehicles. Our goal is to penetrate the market more deeply and establish a nationwide charging network. Furthermore, as the main installer of public lighting in Germany, we have been implementing LED systems that change their level of bright-ness when pedestrians are present. The Smart Crossing concept, which is still being developed, will allow pedestrians to cross roads more safely thanks to intelligent monitoring of the area.

G. G.: SPIE CityNetworks is drawing on its transport expertise to help develop innovative solutions, including systems designed to optimise mobility and e-mobility. The ORIOS by SPIE turnkey e-mobility solution is an ultra-reactive local network that includes aspects such as design, operation of a charging station network and user service (with SILENE, SPIE’s integrated customer service) and comprehensive maintenance. Our teams are working on many innovation, R&D and pilot projects. For instance, as members of the m2i project group (Integrated mobility for the Île-de-France area), we are currently trialling traffic prediction measures in urban areas of Val-de-Marne. Having deployed the state-of-the-art CRITER traffic control system in Grand Lyon, we are now working on a dynamic management system for a carpool lane in the area.