ULTIMO - Advancing Sustainable User-centric Mobility with Automated Vehicles

Projektinformationen

ULTIMO

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101077587

DOI

10.3030/101077587

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 30 August 2022

Startdatum 1 Oktober 2022

Enddatum 30 September 2027

Finanziert unter

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Gesamtkosten

€ 37 601 196,25

EU-Beitrag

€ 24 198 270,00

Koordiniert durch

RBO REGIONALBUS OSTBAYERN GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ULTIMO (ULTIMO - Advancing Sustainable User-centric Mobility with Automated Vehicles)

Berichtszeitraum: 2024-04-01 bis 2025-09-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Europe aims to decarbonise transport while keeping mobility inclusive, safe and affordable. Public transport authorities and operators also face rising costs and, in many regions, structural driver shortages. Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) can help—especially for on-demand services that complement fixed lines—but large-scale deployment is still hindered by interoperability gaps, complex safety and regulatory pathways, uncertain business cases, and the need for public acceptance.

ULTIMO (“Advancing Sustainable User-centric Mobility with Automated Vehicles”) prepares the way for large-scale automated, shared public transport, and explores combined passenger and goods services. It does so through demonstrations in three European sites (Geneva, Oslo, Herford) and by developing the end-to-end operational ecosystem: vehicle integration, fleet orchestration, interfaces to MaaS/LaaS, in-vehicle/passenger support services, cybersecurity and data governance, plus evaluation methods. A core goal is to avoid vendor lock-in by advancing common interfaces (notably a common vehicle API and harmonised data models) so fleets from different manufacturers can connect to the same operational back end.

The pathway to impact is: build interoperable technical foundations → validate processes and services in realistic operating conditions → measure performance, safety, acceptance and costs with a shared KPI framework → deliver roadmaps and recommendations that help cities, operators and industry scale CCAM. Social sciences and humanities are integrated through co-creation and user research (including vulnerable users), translating needs, concerns and accessibility requirements into service design and operational requirements.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

A the end of the first 36 months, the project consolidated the technical foundation for large-scale deployment and advanced site readiness. Key achievements include:
1. Integrated system concept: consolidation of a reference architecture covering vehicles, fleet orchestration, data management and interfaces to MaaS/LaaS, enabling end-to-end service workflows.
2. Interoperability building blocks: progress on a common vehicle API and adaptation approach (vehicle state, localisation, mission control, diagnostics) with harmonised data models to support multi-vendor integration.
3. Validation before vehicles: where physical AVs were not yet available, interfaces and service chains were tested using emulators, synthetic data and software-in-the-loop/lab setups to ensure implementation readiness.
4. Operational ecosystem services: development and pre-validation of key ITS/CCAM services supporting operations (e.g. demand and booking forecasting, arrival time evaluation, and security services such as intrusion detection and threat/risk assessment aligned with relevant automotive cybersecurity practice).
5. User-centred requirements: definition of narrative use cases and operational design domain (ODD) elements, linking user needs and operator requirements to vehicle and service capabilities.
6. Evaluation readiness: completion of a harmonised KPI framework and data-collection design (technical, operational, social, environmental) to enable robust impact assessment once fleets are operating.

Market consolidation and vehicle availability constraints delayed full deployments, but preparations and technical verification continued so that large-scale validation can proceed as vehicles become available.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

ULTIMO goes beyond the state of the art by moving from isolated demonstrations to a scalable, interoperable model for automated public transport:

Multi-vendor interoperability approach for AV public transport, based on common interfaces and harmonised data models, designed to reduce integration cost and support modular upgrades over time.

End-to-end operational ecosystem, including fleet orchestration plus MaaS/LaaS integration and driverless-ready passenger support services, designed for real operations rather than technology showcases.

Combined passenger + logistics concept (LaaS) to improve fleet utilisation and strengthen business viability, using shared orchestration and booking infrastructure.

Comparable, evidence-based assessment across sites through a common KPI framework, enabling decision-makers to compare service quality, safety, acceptance and cost drivers.

Needs for further uptake include: continued large-scale demonstration and sustained operations to build evidence; supportive regulatory pathways for higher automation; stronger standardisation and data-sharing governance; and market conditions that enable OEM cooperation on interfaces. These elements are essential to translate technical readiness into wide deployment.