Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GALILEO 4 Mobility (Fostering the adoption of GALILEO for Mobility as a Service)
Période du rapport: 2019-02-01 au 2020-06-30
Urban mobility is becoming an issue of great importance in today’s society due to the increasing population movements towards big cities and the exponential growth of cities in developing countries. Today, urban mobility schemes are evolving faster than ever mainly due to social, economic and technological changes. The democratization of smart mobile devices is allowing new business models based on sharing goods and services: the sharing economy. Its fast growth during recent years reflects a shift from owning goods toward accessing them when you need them.
In that context, Shared mobility (SM) services have grown exponentially during last years. Whilst car sharing is still the most widespread form of SM, other services such as bike sharing, ride hailing and flexible forms of public transport are also growing rapidly. New services based on the use of mobile apps to match demand and offer and to aggregate different transport modes are constantly increasing. These developments create the potential for an integrated system of multi-modal SM services – increasingly referred to as “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) – that will drive market innovation.
Geolocation of users and vehicles by means of satellite navigation technologies has been widely used and it´s a key enabler for most of the services. Traditional GPS-based solutions have proven not to be a reliable solution because of:
- Lack of availability in certain areas of the city (deep urban), where most of these services are offered.
- Positioning errors, and therefore misleading information to both users and operators.
- Unaffordable battery consumption, data communication and tracking device costs.
New European Satellite Navigation Satellite System, Galileo, has just declared initial operations in 2016. Galileo will further improve signal availability, thus enhancing continuity of service for shared mobility services in urban or challenging environments. By contributing to multi-constellation solutions, Galileo can satisfy the need for higher accuracy, availability and fast Time-To-First-Fix. Moreover, the introduction of new communication technologies addressing Internet-of-Things market, such as Sigfox, LTE-M or NB-IoT, can bring down the device cost and battery consumption, facilitating the exploitation of geolocation information from shared mobility fleets.
MaaS, conceived as a single front-end app-based service that gives access to the wide offer of transport services within a city, it´s still in an early stage of development. Several contactless public transport tickets aggregating different offers exist in some cities, such as Viena, London or Paris. There have been also some private start-up initiatives in Helsinki (Whim) or Goteborg (Ubigo) to provide a complete MaaS package, and a European level association, MaaS Alliance, to foster the development of the concept.
Galileo For Mobility supports the introduction of Galileo technology within the MaaS context by analysing the needs in terms of geolocation of the different stakeholders involved and demonstrating the benefits of Galileo through pilot demonstrators of shared mobility services. More specifically, Galileo For Mobility pursues the following three objectives:
1) To understand, define and validate which are the requirements for GNSS-Galileo in MaaS
2) To develop the key elements to exploit Galileo benefits within the MaaS sector
3) To disseminate the project results and support their exploitation after the project lifetime
In that context, Shared mobility (SM) services have grown exponentially during last years. Whilst car sharing is still the most widespread form of SM, other services such as bike sharing, ride hailing and flexible forms of public transport are also growing rapidly. New services based on the use of mobile apps to match demand and offer and to aggregate different transport modes are constantly increasing. These developments create the potential for an integrated system of multi-modal SM services – increasingly referred to as “Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) – that will drive market innovation.
Geolocation of users and vehicles by means of satellite navigation technologies has been widely used and it´s a key enabler for most of the services. Traditional GPS-based solutions have proven not to be a reliable solution because of:
- Lack of availability in certain areas of the city (deep urban), where most of these services are offered.
- Positioning errors, and therefore misleading information to both users and operators.
- Unaffordable battery consumption, data communication and tracking device costs.
New European Satellite Navigation Satellite System, Galileo, has just declared initial operations in 2016. Galileo will further improve signal availability, thus enhancing continuity of service for shared mobility services in urban or challenging environments. By contributing to multi-constellation solutions, Galileo can satisfy the need for higher accuracy, availability and fast Time-To-First-Fix. Moreover, the introduction of new communication technologies addressing Internet-of-Things market, such as Sigfox, LTE-M or NB-IoT, can bring down the device cost and battery consumption, facilitating the exploitation of geolocation information from shared mobility fleets.
MaaS, conceived as a single front-end app-based service that gives access to the wide offer of transport services within a city, it´s still in an early stage of development. Several contactless public transport tickets aggregating different offers exist in some cities, such as Viena, London or Paris. There have been also some private start-up initiatives in Helsinki (Whim) or Goteborg (Ubigo) to provide a complete MaaS package, and a European level association, MaaS Alliance, to foster the development of the concept.
Galileo For Mobility supports the introduction of Galileo technology within the MaaS context by analysing the needs in terms of geolocation of the different stakeholders involved and demonstrating the benefits of Galileo through pilot demonstrators of shared mobility services. More specifically, Galileo For Mobility pursues the following three objectives:
1) To understand, define and validate which are the requirements for GNSS-Galileo in MaaS
2) To develop the key elements to exploit Galileo benefits within the MaaS sector
3) To disseminate the project results and support their exploitation after the project lifetime
The core of GALILEO 4 Mobility are its pilots, with four demonstrations held across Europe to test how the integration of GALILEO technology could improve urban mobility.
Thessaloniki, taxi-sharing pilot
In Thessaloniki, the demo was led by project partners CERTH/HIT and Taxiway and ran from May 2019 to March 2020. It consisted of a shared taxi-service partnering up travelers sharing the same itinerary, this way discouraging private car-ownership and tackling traffic congestion.
Paris, e-bike & car sharing service
The pilot in Paris (led by Clem’) included both an e-bike and e-car sharing service. In this demo, accurate positioning with help from GALILEO technology contributed to better determining the location of the users and vehicles, also basing the billing for the service on that data.
Barcelona, MaaS application
Another pilot took place in Barcelona. Led by RACC, it tested how GALILEO technology improves the accuracy of a dedicated MaaS aggregator application. The app, called CityTrips, gathers the whole mobility offer of the area, including bike, scooter and car-sharing, public transport and taxi; meaning accurate positioning of the passenger and the vehicles is essential to enable a seamless door-to-door journey. The results of the demo showed that the precision and the acquisition time of the geolocation signal improves when using a GALILEO-equipped smartphone.
Cervello, bus-on-demand pilot
The last pilot ran from February to April 2020, and consisted on a bus-on demand pilot in Cervelló, a small town near Barcelona. The pilot is a collaboration between G4M project coordinator Pildo and public authority Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), and aimed to tackle the low usage of bus services in the area. A GALILEO-enabled bus complements the existing lines and runs according to demand.
Thessaloniki, taxi-sharing pilot
In Thessaloniki, the demo was led by project partners CERTH/HIT and Taxiway and ran from May 2019 to March 2020. It consisted of a shared taxi-service partnering up travelers sharing the same itinerary, this way discouraging private car-ownership and tackling traffic congestion.
Paris, e-bike & car sharing service
The pilot in Paris (led by Clem’) included both an e-bike and e-car sharing service. In this demo, accurate positioning with help from GALILEO technology contributed to better determining the location of the users and vehicles, also basing the billing for the service on that data.
Barcelona, MaaS application
Another pilot took place in Barcelona. Led by RACC, it tested how GALILEO technology improves the accuracy of a dedicated MaaS aggregator application. The app, called CityTrips, gathers the whole mobility offer of the area, including bike, scooter and car-sharing, public transport and taxi; meaning accurate positioning of the passenger and the vehicles is essential to enable a seamless door-to-door journey. The results of the demo showed that the precision and the acquisition time of the geolocation signal improves when using a GALILEO-equipped smartphone.
Cervello, bus-on-demand pilot
The last pilot ran from February to April 2020, and consisted on a bus-on demand pilot in Cervelló, a small town near Barcelona. The pilot is a collaboration between G4M project coordinator Pildo and public authority Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), and aimed to tackle the low usage of bus services in the area. A GALILEO-enabled bus complements the existing lines and runs according to demand.
GALILEO 4 Mobility, the EU-funded project aiming to support the introduction of GALILEO technology within the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) context, promotes GALILEO technology to enhance the continuity and ease of shared mobility services in urban environments. All pilots contribute in their own way to improving mobility in the area, and many of them will continue beyond the project’s lifetime.
Besides the pilot services, a call for small-scale pilots was launched, encouraging the development of new mobility services using GALILEO. A new bus-on-demand service was launched in Terrassa (Catalonia) as a result of this call. Developed by the Association of Municipalities for Mobility and Urban Transport (AMTU), the City Council of Terrassa and TMESA, the operating bus company, the pilot uses a GALILEO-enabled platform to operate. The service will keep running after the project.
GALILEO 4 Mobility has also facilitated the creation of Nemi: an application enabling the operation of demand-responsive public transport services. Nemi makes mobility in low-density areas feasible by providing a software solution that enables flexible bus routes.
Besides the pilot services, a call for small-scale pilots was launched, encouraging the development of new mobility services using GALILEO. A new bus-on-demand service was launched in Terrassa (Catalonia) as a result of this call. Developed by the Association of Municipalities for Mobility and Urban Transport (AMTU), the City Council of Terrassa and TMESA, the operating bus company, the pilot uses a GALILEO-enabled platform to operate. The service will keep running after the project.
GALILEO 4 Mobility has also facilitated the creation of Nemi: an application enabling the operation of demand-responsive public transport services. Nemi makes mobility in low-density areas feasible by providing a software solution that enables flexible bus routes.