Mobility as a service is the future of public transport – from trains to bikes for hire culminating in a section of the journey on an autonomous bus, all seamlessly connected in a single system. IT specialist IVU Traffic Technologies is now researching ways of making this idea a reality together with its partners in the MaaS L.A.B.S. project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
MaaS L.A.B.S. stands for a user-centric mobility-as-a-service platform that is lively, automated, demand-based and sharing-focused. The research project is looking to combine flexible and demand-based public transport with automated on-call micro-buses and car-, bike- and ride-sharing services. MaaS L.A.B.S. is testing the relevant technologies, combining them all in a multi-manufacturer app and developing the requisite background systems.
The MaaS L.A.B.S. interdisciplinary project team is focusing in particular on the requirements of passengers in small and medium-sized cities. Starting in 2020, living labs will be set up in Potsdam, Cottbus and Hanover to develop the services in the course of active dialogue with the public, urban developers, transport planners and politicians. Extensive demonstrations will allow people to experience the technology and help to shape technology and process development based on the relevant requirements in progressive feedback loops.
IVU is bringing its expertise as a specialist in integrated software solutions to bear within the MaaS L.A.B.S. project in the development and implementation of forecast and routing algorithms for on-demand transport. IVU engineers are also developing interfaces with transport operators’ control and management systems, and integrating the MaaS system within the existing passenger information service.
“Users’ expectations of public transport are changing. Today’s passengers want to be more flexible, especially when travelling in cities,” says Matthias Rust, CTO of IVU Traffic Technologies. “This shift presents some big opportunities for transport companies. By participating in MaaS L.A.B.S., we are hoping to continue to drive forward the transport transformation and offer our customers solutions for the mobility of tomorrow, today.”
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is providing total funding of €5 million over four years for the research and development project under the funding scheme for “customised and adaptive technologies for connected mobility”. The project partners include the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, the University of Siegen and the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, transport operators in the cities involved in the project and companies in the industrial sector.
IVU Traffic Technologies has been working for over 40 years with more than 500 engineers to ensure punctual and reliable transport in the world’s metropolises. In growing cities, people and vehicles are constantly on the move – a logistical challenge that calls for intelligent and secure software systems. The integrated standard products of the IVU.suite work to plan, optimise and control the deployment of buses, trains and employees, provide passengers with real-time information, secure connections, collect data and ensure efficiency.
