ITS Innovations for Future Mobility

Healthy, Safe and Ecological Road Transport, Mobility and Energy use for better Sustainability in Finland with Intelligent Transportation Systems (HERMES) is authored by Josef Czako, CEO of Moving Forward Consulting for the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MINTC) Finland. The study shall serve as a thinking paper and give orientation for the upgrade the Mobility of People and Goods in the transport ecosystem in Finland, and focuses on four ITS innovations: Robot Cars (Autonomous Driving), Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Mobility Pricing and innovations for Freight & Logistics.

Robot Cars – Supported by a fast deployment of electric vehicles – will create new transport services for Cities / Regions and for rural areas, support high capacity public transport, reduce the amount of vehicles, reduce parking spaces needed, reduce congestion, improve road safety, and modernize the vehicle fleet. Robot Cars will also foster Shared Mobility and give the society a wider access to mobility. Robot Cars have a strong link to MaaS. The timeline can be seen from 5-15 years, dependent on the degree of automation. Robot Cars will work most effectively (less spacing between vehicles is needed) if own lanes are offered, and in many cases existing road infrastructure can be utilized for this. Good communication is needed to reach acceptance by the users. Robot Cars require reliable (24/7) and strong communication & ICT back bones. The cars will also require adaptation of regulations, data privacy. (Electric) Robot cars contribute to environmental protection.

Mobility as a Service upgrades and combines existing transport services with the goals of better offering and more efficiency. MaaS will support the (future) increase of Mobility needs. MaaS will offer new or improved services in intermodal passenger transport, and will create more efficient end to end mobility offerings, and give better information before, during and after travel. MaaS will require strong cooperation between Public and Private stakeholders.

MaaS also support the “Shared Economy”. MaaS requires and “Independent Mobility Service Platform” offering neutrality and a fair business model. Mobility Pricing will ensure implementation of Sustainability Policies and also sustainability of pricing. MaaS will help to interconnect better Cities or regions, and support Twin City developments, like Helsinki-Tampere, Helsinki-Turku-Stockholm, or Helsinki- Tallinn. MaaS depends on reliable 24/7 ICT structures, and needs to ensure data privacy rules. MaaS contributes to reduction of emissions.

Mobility Pricing is an efficient Policy tool to guarantee and observe policies for fair and sustainable mobility. Mobility Pricing (MP) included all internal cost (investments and operation) and all external cost (pollution, noise, energy risks, etc.) for each trip and for all transport modes, for both local and international users. MP helps to change the behavior of users toward more sustainability. It throttles the existing capacity with the demand, and is thus a lever against congestion. Mobility Pricing creates fairness and cost transparency. Mobility Pricing supports to include “Pay as you use” models to relief tax financing. MP requires harmonization of existing transport and taxation policies. MP also supports environmental protection.

Freight and Logistics are supported by ITS Innovations and best practices in order to increase efficiency, foster a better position against (international) competition, supporting and modernizing Finnish Hauliers, Ports, or Transport Service Providers. ITS innovations for Freight and Logistics (F&L) will also foster cost reduction, automation, multi-modal and inter-modal services as well as modernization of fleet. Mobility as a Service principles and business models shall be also applied to F&L (MaaS for Goods). Mobility Pricing will generate better cost transparency, fairness, less energy consumption, and ensure sustainability. ITS Innovations applied to F&L will also support better environmental protection.

ITS as part of a Greater and Integrated Automation and ICT Schemes

ITS Innovations have a significant potential to improve safety and efficiency, financing, and to foster environmentally friendly Mobility for People and Goods. ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) for Mobility and for Transport of People and Goods – is an extremely wide and complex subject area. It touches many areas of technology, market segments, transport, mobility provider, use cases and products. ITS forms a new market for Mobility, which is still in its infancy and the large growth is expected. These ITS solutions come hand in hand with other global technology trends, like Digitization, Big Data, Automation, and Connected Vehicles.

Big Data and Transport Understanding and Assessing Option

Transport is a complex activity but at its most basic expression it is simply about connecting locations with flows. These locations may be proximate, well-connected and displaying high levels of access – as in many urban areas – or not. The flows between these locations may concern people or goods and may involve any number of vehicle types – or not, as in the case of walking.

These three fields – operations, planning and safety – are areas where authorities must critically evaluate where and how new, or newly available data and data-related insights, can improve transport policy.

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