Meet the PAV project partners

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HITRANS

HITRANS is the Scottish transport partnership that encompasses all modes of transport in the Highlands and Islands. The strategic objectives of HITRANS align closely with the NSR programme and EU Strategies, putting HITRANS in a well-placed position to lead and deliver the PAV project. The project allows HITRANS to learn the best practices on how to deploy AVs into the transport system and their socio-economic impact to create sustainable long-term planning and improve the sustainability of public and private transport. HITRANS main role is to strategically lead the PAV project while administrative processes outsourced to external experts. HITRANS will develop a pilot of level 4 automation with electric, self-driving shuttles that connect the Inverness Airport with the rail station and Tornagrain (a new to be developed district). For the long term, HITRANS will improve their Regional Transport Strategy 2008-2022 on how to integrate AV in the public transport service in the Highlands and Islands.

     
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Hannover Region

 

Geographically located in the heart of the European Union, Hannover Region has 1.2 million inhabitants living in 21 cities (including Hannover city) and municipalities. With its unique political structure, Hannover Region is a model for a supralocal organisation which bundles and combines the mayoral tasks of the city and surrounding areas and concentrates the most important responsibilities, including spatial planning.

Hannover Region also stands for multimodal transport with a reputation as a “European Gateway” - easy to access by car, train, plane and ship from all over Europe. 

Hannover Region's transport infrastructure has many advantages for both residents and businesses. Fast train connections support the reachability of metropolitan areas such as Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne and the possibilities to explore the region by public transport are excellent.

In Hannover, two of the main transportation companies, üstra and RegioBus, have adopted an integrated approach towards mobility management and control over individual traffic as well as public transport. Around 550 000 people use public transport in the Hannover Region every day – almost half of the region’s total population.

In 2012, Hannover City and Hannover Region launched the Master Plan of the City and Region of Hannover – 100% for Climate Protection to ensure that future generations can lead a healthy and happy life in Hannover. The target of the project is to reduce CO² emissions by 95% and energy consumption by 50% in comparison to 1990 by 2050 at the latest. 

To achieve this ambitious target, the transportation company üstra has been testing vehicles with alternative engines on several bus routes in Hannover City. In addition, Hannover Region aims to improve the public transport connection among cities in the region to minimise individual transport.

To improve public transport connections, Hannover Region is modernising bus lines with new technical possibilities. As part of the PAV project, an autonomous bus shuttle will be set up as a use case of autonomous vehicles service between a tram stop and the new university campus. 

The region's urban planners will also receive training to take the impacts of autonomous mobility into account to urban and regional development.

     
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Almere City

Almere is a Dutch city with 200.000 inhabitants which was created as a satellite city of Amsterdam in the mid-70s on reclaimed sealand of the former Zuiderzee (Southern sea). It is the fastest-growing city of the Netherlands since it needs to expand with 60.000 dwellings by 2030. Therefore, Almere city already has wide experience regarding city planning and mobility. Through PAV, the spatial planners will improve their ´Long Term Investment Strategy Almere 2.0´ (LISA 2.0) by including the (local) impact of AV and develop their 3.0 version. Local implications can be analysed through developing the AV local pilot. Almere will develop a pilot in to test the local impact of autonomous mobility in the city- and public transport environment. The pilot will be integrated into the current public transport service and will offer electric autonomous shuttles on the current bus lanes to improve connection with and among new districts.

     
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Varberg Municipality

Varberg is a Swedish city that works closely together with leading future mobility experts such as RISE Victoria and Gothenburg which is the leading example of integrating autonomous mobility in urban planning strategies. Through the project, the municipality is looking for input on how to integrate autonomous mobile solutions in ´Vasterport´ Varberg. Varberg will develop a pilot with an electric, autonomous shuttle connecting the relocated harbour with the new district Västerport and city centre. The pilot will provide insights on the local impact of AV in Varberg.

     
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Ghent University

The Social and Economic Geography (SEG) Research group at the Department of Geography focuses on three research pillars:
(i) travel behaviour analysis and city logistics
(ii) urban geography and world city formation
(iii) territorial organisation and spatial planning.
Within PAV, the SEG research group will focus on the social consequences of AV for the different AV scenarios. The main focus will be on the users of AV and how AV impacts social inclusiveness due to changed accessibility and equity. The results will be turned into recommendations for authorities on how to achieve a social inclusive mobility system by developing green transport and spatial planning strategies with AV included.

     
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The Oslo School of Architecture and Design

AHO brings expertise of urban planning and mobility from research project and collaborations from Scandanavia, North America, East Africa and China. AHO is a spatial planning expert and will conduct research in peri-urban morphologies and geographies, to understand the AV impact on street, district and regional level. Transport data for specific use and users, such as commuting, leisure travel and among different groups like elderly and children, as well as conduct semi-structured interviews among inhabitants will be included in our research.

     
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Robert Gordon University

The team at RGU has extensive experience with regards to the study and evaluated the implementation of sustainable mobility and urban interventions. The team has specific expertise in terms of built environment visualisation, transport policy and participatory design. The University is committed to undertaking research which engages with and is of benefit to society. RGU will explore AV technology scenarios and develop and assess the local impact of AV on local mobility patterns and other social behaviour of residents and tourist.

     
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Halmstad University

This project will be built heavily on the competencies developed around CERES (part of Halmstad University) – the Centre for Research on Embedded Systems – Within CERES world-class research has been conducted in the area of Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) and AVs in collaboration with Swedish automotive industry. Therefore, HU provides valuable expertise on the technology integration of the required (ICT) infrastructure and autonomous vehicles. Halmstad University will analyse how AV technology can be integrated into the connected infrastructure used by local- and transport authorities within PAV. Moreover, Halmstad University will contribute to the modelling of autonomous driving scenarios for the local authorities involved in PAV. This is a valuable addition to the socio-economic view from RGU and UGhent.

     
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Clean Tech Delta

Clean Tech Delta is a network of experts that connects research institutes and businesses with local authorities in the South-Holland region to collaborate on strategic- and investment topics. The main benefit for CTD and its members would be to learn how other local authorities develop their green transport- spatial planning strategies in order to improve their own strategy development towards the local authorities within their network and beyond. The main role of CTD within PAV will be to support the green transport- and spatial planning strategy development of the local authorities involved. CTD will use the expertise available among their members to combine the latest insights from the future mobility industry with the knowledge derived within PAV.

     
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CLEAN

CLEAN has vast experience within partnership-matchmaking, Triple Helix collaborations and overall business development within the Smart Mobility and Liveability-oriented sector. Given its international focus with the global Clean Tech Network, CLEAN has wide experience with matchmaking between industry solution providers and local transport authorities. CLEAN will support the local- and transport authorities to source technical autonomous mobility solutions across NSR to develop the AV pilots. Sourcing is done through organising transnational, public competitions for (autonomous mobility) solution providers within the NSR to promote and test their solutions (e.g. camera systems, sensors, service applications, internet networks, (parts of) vehicles, fleet management systems, etc.) in the 4 AV pilots developed within PAV.

   

 

 

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Rupprecht Consult

Rupprecht Consult is a fully independent private research and consultancy company, based in Cologne, Germany. Rupprecht is committed to contributing to the sustainable development of cities and regions by developing innovative ideas in cooperation with other stakeholders, and by implementing concepts through concrete projects. They are known across Europe for our work on sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP), collective transport and new technology applications, as well as integrated and people-focussed mobility solutions. As experts in learning and knowledge transfer, Rupprecht can provide support and expertise at every stage of the project.

 
     
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 POLIS

POLIS is the leading network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport. Their aim is to improve local transport through integrated strategies that address the economic, social and environmental dimensions of transport. Insights from the PAV pilot will be disseminated using the POLIS framework which facilitates dialogue and exchange between local authorities, the transport research community and the industry.