NETMOBIL is a cluster project to explore and promote the potential of developments in automatic vehicle technologies for future sustainable personal urban transportation systems, and provide advice and guidance on the options for decision makers.
The project has had oversight of projects CyberCars and CyberMove on Cybernetic Transport Systems (CTS), EDICT on Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) and STARDUST on Advanced Driver Assistance and Vehicle Guidance Systems (ADAS). An analysis of applications and common areas has been undertaken including: barriers and risks, user needs, legal and institutional issues, technologies, evaluation issues and research needs.
A dissemination strategy has been developed. This included identifying the roadmap to implementation and deployment, and conducting a review and analysis of case studies to clarify the transport and business cases for the different systems.
Two Roadmaps for the implementation of potentially sustainable personal urban transportation systems have been identified. The first is for ADAS systems which can evolve through car share schemes to use cleaner, greener, safer more efficient vehicles as they become available from the vehicle manufacturers. The second is for PRT/CTS systems which similarly provide cleaner, greener, safer and more efficient transport but through a public transport approach. Both solutions aim to provide alternatives to the use of private cars in urban areas through automatic vehicles. The alternative approaches and their intermediate offerings have been compared, and the critical steps on the path to successful deployment for both have been identified.
The potential of the solutions for European cities has been described, and policy guidance and recommendations for decision makers have been developed.
Main deliverables:
- D1 State of the Art: related projects;
- D2 Research synergies, needs and opportunities;
- D3 First dissemination workshop and proceedings;
- D4 Dissemination strategy;
- D5 Internal report NETMOBIL Roadmap and critical path;
- D6 EU potential;
- D7 Policy guidance;
- D8 Final conference and dissemination workshop, and proceedings;
- D9 NETMOBIL web site.
The NETMOBIL solutions are generally attractive in comparison with conventional public transport system alternatives, but like them, rarely produce sufficient revenues to cover both the implementation and running costs. Nevertheless, they are particularly attractive in certain situations in that they can provide personal transport like cars, but are clean and offer reduced traffic, congestion and environmental impacts, and increased safety. That is, they do provide potentially sustainable transport solutions.
The results from the project include deliverables on EU potential and policy guidance. The last includes recommendations for authorities at city, national and European levels, which include recognising the great potential, offered by the NETMOBIL solutions for sustainable transport, and requirements for facilitating their acceptance and introduction.
Dissemination of results has been through numerous papers and presentations given by the partners in NETMOBIL and the cluster projects, by the NETMOBIL web site, and in particular through 2 dissemination workshops, the last held in association with the European New Towns Platform and a pre-launch demonstration of ParkShuttle, an automated system of driverless electric buses. This attracted about 120 delegates for the pleanary session.