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PRESS RELEASE: International event on urban road transport automation in La
Rochelle
On 30 and 31 March, more than 100 experts from Europe, the US, Japan and Singapore
met in La Rochelle (France) to take part in a series of events related to road vehicle automation organised in the context of the European project CityMobil2.
Together with Mr. Jean-François Fountaine, La Rochelle Mayor, Mr. Jean-François Janin,
representative of the French Ministry and Mr. Patrick Mercier from the European Commission, international guests were offered the opportunity to ride on the CityMobil2 Automated Road Transport System, which is being demonstrated in La Rochelle since December 2014. It is the first ever fully automated public transport system to share the
roads with manually driven vehicles, pedestrian and cyclists.
The week started with a meeting of urban transport stakeholders, notably city authorities
and public transport representatives, to debate the role and expectations of cities regarding road transport automation. A number of key issues emerged from this meeting, including urban planning and design and business model: How can cities plan for road automation? How will road automation change the shape of our cities? What type of business model can be developed to deliver road passenger transport automation?
During the subsequent socio-economic impacts workshop, international experts discussed the long-term impacts of road vehicle automation in different urban environments
(compact cities, sprawled cities, connected cities and rural areas) and for two different
scenarios: the first assuming the dominance of private car automation; whereas the second envisioning a stronger role for automated vehicles operating in shared mode (public
transport, car sharing/clubs, etc). The experts were invited to assess the potential impacts
of automation on the economy, urban mobility, the environment and society.
The pros and cons of the two caricatural scenarios – automation with and without a paradigm shift to shared mobility – were debated and a number of potential impacts were
identified in terms of old jobs (reduction of employment in traditional car making activities), new jobs (creation of new services), personal trips costs, public budget (reduction of
fines and parking fee revenues), insurance costs, accessibility enabling the development
of remote areas, road capacity and its use, journey comfort and convenience, energy and
emissions, land use, new use of public space, social impacts in terms of safety, personal
security, health and active travel (automated rides may substitute short distance walking
or cycling) and different perception/use of time spent travelling in automated vehicles.
A lively two-day discussion highlighted the revolutionary potential of automation and also
pointed out the need for accompanying policies to secure the benefits of automation
whilst minimising its potential negative impacts. “There are different market opportunities for exploiting autonomated vehicles depending on the urban form – automation in
densely populated metropolitan areas should exploit the potential advantages of vehicle
sharing, while a smart use of automated vehicles in peri-urban towns and rural areas can
increase flexibility and reduce car dependency – one car becoming more easily shareable
by different members of the household, and reducing the need for a second car”” says
Carlo Sessa, Research Director at the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems.
A full report of the workshop will be published in May 2015 for the expert and the scientific community at large to comment upon.
The second large-scale demonstration of an automated road passenger transport system
was inaugurated on 16 April 2015 at the EPFL campus in Lausanne (Switzerland) in the
presence of the presidents of France and Switzerland.
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CityMobil2:
CityMobil2 is a multi-stakeholder project co-funded by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (commonly known as FP7). CityMobil2 has set up a pilot platform for automated road transport systems, which are being
implemented in several urban environments across Europe. Automated transport systems are made up of vehicles operating without a driver in collective mode.
www.citymobil2.eu
La Rochelle:
The French coastal town of La Rochelle is the site of one of the main CityMobil2 demonstrations of automated road passenger transport systems, which is operating from December 2014 until March 2015 (?).
www.citymobil2.eu/en/News-Events/CM2-La-Rochelle-2015-events/Event-overview/
Further information:
Dr. Adriano Alessandrini, CityMobil2 Project Coordinator,
email: [email protected]
Carlos Holguin, CityMobil2 Project Manager,
email: [email protected]
Suzanne Hoadley, CityMobil2 Dissemination Coordinator,
email: [email protected]
The sole responsibility for the content of this press release lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the European Union. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be
made of the information contained therein.
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CityMobil2 press release April 2015