Overview

Mobility

  • definition
    • mobility describes the ability of people and goods to move around an area, and in doing so to access the essential facilities, communities & other destinations that are required to support a decent quality of life & a buoyant economy
    • mobility incorporates the transport infrastructure & services that facilitate these interactions
  • challenges of urban mobility
    • overview
      • congestion
      • energy crisis
      • pollution
      • climate change
    • details
      • increasing demand for travel in city centers, suburbs & between the two areas
      • increasing demand for improved intercity mobility
      • requiring faster & more direct connectivity between destinations
      • increasing city traffic, pollution, waste production & CO2 emission

Smart Mobility

Goals

  • contents
    • optimise traffic flow & increase connectivity
    • operational efficiency
      • managing capacity & efficient use of existing physical infrastructure
    • distribute information to travelers about the benefits of different travel options
    • reduce pollution, traffic congestion and costs
    • improve people safety, transfer speed and efficiency

Structure

  • overview
  • physical infrastructure
    • including
      • pedestrian pathways
        • walkability - the friendliness of walking, pedestrian pathway design
          • provide health, economic & environmental benefits
          • technology of walkability
            • site selection to identify walkability zones
            • walkability zones mapping
            • walking network modelling
            • apps for multi-model network routing analysis
          • design criteria
            • close to city center
            • close to public transport
            • close to walkable streets
            • close to shops, restaurants, culture
            • close to parks
            • close to water
            • perimeter block shape
      • bicycle lanes
        • enable bicycle commuting
        • for short distance travel
        • bicycle sharing system
          • e.g., Amsterdam, Budapest, Paris, San Francisco, Barcelona and China
      • railways (mass transit)
        • fast & efficient
        • high capacity
        • economical for travelers
        • environmental friendly by eletrified trains
        • achieved by high speed trains (> 200km/h)
        • high speed train systems around the world
          • China, Taiwan, Japan, France, Italy, South Korea, etc.
    • aims
      • optimize journeys, traffic within & between cities
      • save energy
      • reduce carbon emissions

Technology and usage

  • GPS (Global Positioning System)
    • operate by 24 satellites orbiting around the earth
    • broadcast signals for location fixing
    • vehicle location fixing and tracking
    • real time positioning & navigation
  • communication technologies
    • wireless communications
    • wifi
    • radio modem: UHF, VHF
    • 3G, 4G, 5G
      • 5G
        • the speeds & data processing capabilities support autonomous vehicles
          • 4G: travel 60cm before it can stop
          • 5G: travel 7cm before it can stop
        • high speed (at least 10 times faster than 4G)
        • extremely low latency
    • real time data collection
    • remote control
  • GIS (Geographic Information System)
    • a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, & present spatial or geographical data
    • digital maps to illustrate locations
    • provide functions for location based analysis
      • routing analysis: best route
      • buffer analysis: crash analysis
    • integrate with GPS for vehicle tracking & navigation
    • usage
      • understand travel patterns
      • project capital improvement
      • manage roadside assets
      • share real time collected travel data
      • improve ove rall safety and security
      • help response to crisis and traffic incidents
      • coordinate between travel agencies and entities
      • identify ways for cost saving during journey
      • assist in planning, managing and growing ITS
      • help avoid congestion
  • AI
    • reduce vehicle emission in car park
    • reduce time to find parking space
    • avoid accident caused during parking
    • increase parking space utilization
    • drivers no need to memorize parking location
    • secure & safe
    • Geo.AI (Geospatial + AI) to predict traffic conditions
  • surveillance technologies
    • CCTV
    • real time monitoring on traffic and road conditions
    • road safety monitoring
  • sensing technologies
    • vehicle based & infrastructure based
    • collect real time data / traffic conditions
    • sends back to control centers for decision making & traffic management (IoT)
    • avoid vehicle collision
    • auto payment
  • electric car
    • use electrical energy stored in rechargeable batteries
    • reduce air pollution cased by traditional automobiles
    • infrastructure required – build charging station at convenience places
  • connected car
    • a car with devices that connects to other devices within or outside the car, such as other cars, home, office or infrastructure
    • equipped with internet access to share information outside the car
    • advantages
      • infotainment
      • safety
      • diagnostics efficiency
      • navigation
  • vehicle to everything (V2X)
    • the passing of information from a vehicle to any entity that may affect the vehicle, and vice versa
    • all vehicles and infrastructure systems are interconnected with each other
    • provide more precise knowledge of the traffic situation across the entire road network
    • advantages
      • optimize traffic flows
      • reduce accident numbers
      • reduce congestion
      • minimize emissions
  • autonomous car
    • driverless car
    • run on electricity or hybrids
    • equipped with autopilot computer systems and cameras to monitor car’s surroundings
    • under trial and technology is in preliminary stages
    • 6 levels of automation by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)
  • bicycle sharing system
    • allow people to borrow a bike at a location & return at specified collection points
    • infrastructure required – bicycle lanes
    • help reduce carbon emission and road congestion
  • ITS (Intelligent Transport System)
    • integrated application of advanced technologies using electronics, computers, communications & advanced sensors
    • these applications provide important information to travellers while improving the safety & efficiency of the transportation system
  • smartphone & mobile apps technologies
    • mobile apps for transportation
    • user based
    • disseminate traffic data
    • analysis and convert traffic data to meaningful applications
    • change user behavior to utilize road network resources
    • example - arrival time estimation apps
      • end user based
      • assist journey time planning
      • change user behavior to use public transport
      • avoid congestion and peak
  • ERP (Electronic Road Pricing)
    • a traffic management tool to tackle road traffic congestion
    • rationalize traffic flow in targeted areas where severe traffic congestion occurs
    • based on the “user pays” principle
    • technologies
      • ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition)
        • use cameras to capture the images of license number plates
      • DSRC (Dedicated Short-ranged Radio Communication)
        • pre-install an in-vehicle unit for information exchange with the equipment mounted on ERP pole using wireless communication
      • geofencing (a GIS application)
        • delineate a virtual boundary / area
        • when object goes in or leave the area, alert / message / action will be generated
  • IVU (In-Vehicle Unit)
    • using RFID tag
    • payment
      • FFTS (Free-Flow Tolling System)
      • ERP
      • parking
    • real-time traffic data collection
      • traffic management
      • big data analysis
  • source data inputs
    • smartphone partners
    • automotive OEM partners
    • mobile apps
    • telematics
    • portable navigation devices
    • fleet management systems
    • then
      • to utilize these data can promote efficiency and create opportunities to the community at large
      • inspire people to innovate solutions to deal with traffic is sues such as congestion and accidents

Transportation of tomorrow

  • ultimate goals
  • future
    • data-rich
    • high accuracy
    • real-time
    • high-speed
    • trusted & secure
    • resilient

Additional Reading