PAV workshop: scenario evaluation for AVs in the City of Almere
On the 26th of January, the city of Almere hosted a workshop where PAV project partners and experts of the city worked together on scenarios for AVs within future urban development initiatives in Almere. PAV aims to stimulate the uptake of electric and shared AVs by developing green transport and spatial planning strategies that incorporate AVs.
This workshop was a follow-up to an earlier workshop in May last year in which scenarios for a virtual pilot were developed. The virtual pilot in Almere simulates the introduction of AV buses to Almere’s unique BRT network and focuses on the large-scale urban development Almere Pampus foreseen in the coming decade. This long-term approach takes the requirements for and opportunities offered by autonomous vehicles into account early in the spatial planning process. It aims at finding an optimised solution, taking the successful city’s public transport system strategy into account. During this follow-up workshop, the scenarios (which had been worked out in greater detail in the meantime) were reviewed. The implications of CCAM (Cooperative Connected and Automated Mobility) concepts in general were also discussed, as well as the need to involve stakeholders (both citizens and professionals) to come to a meaningful implementation of the new technology. The workshop in itself also played a role in collecting and understanding stakeholder feedback.
The 2,5 hour long workshop was moderated by Rupprecht Consult and kicked off with a brief introduction to CCAM and autonomous vehicles by Rupprecht Consult. In a first interactive exercise, participants discussed the impact of CCAM and autonomous vehicles on spatial and mobility planning. After an explanation of the 3 AV scenario’s for Pampus by the Almere PAV project team, a second interactive exercise followed. This focussed on the pro’s, con’s and challenges the various scenarios represent for future Pampus, from the perspective of the workshop participants and their areas of expertise. In a final session, PAV project partner RGU and Northumbria University stressed the need to involve stakeholders and how this could be achieved. A discussion then enfolded on how this could be implemented in Almere. On behalf of the city of Almere, the local PAV project team was present, as well as various experts involved in urban planning and policy, and mobility (including public transport).
The valuable input that was collected during the workshop will be used to finalise the scenarios. The scenarios each have different implications for urban planning and the public transport offer. The coming weeks will be used to present and describe them in a way that best highlights their characteristics and points of difference. The scenarios will be presented during the PAV Final Conference on February 23 in Inverness.
Stay tuned to the PAV website and social media channels for all updates from the project and details on the PAV final event, hope to see you there!