ULTIMO LOGO

UNLOCKING LARGE-SCALE AND
PASSENGER-CENTRIC AUTOMATED MOBILITY: NEW EUROPEAN PROJECT ULTIMO LAUNCHES

Project 101077587 — ULTIMO

During the past few years, many projects and initiatives have both tested and deployed automated vehicles (AVs) in public transport, but the large-scale roll-out of automated shared fleets that are commercially viable is yet to be realised.

With the launch of ULTIMO, the project is seeking to set new foundations and deploy the very first economically viable large scale, on-demand, and passenger-oriented AV public transportation services.

By adopting a holistic approach to AV deployment that considers all elements in a cross-sector business environment, ULTIMO wants to truly unlock the integration of AVs into cities with on-demand and door-to-door services, allowing for more sustainable, accessible, and inclusive mobility. 
H2020 AVENUE Door-to-door on-demand autonomous vehicles

Building on the success, to create a new future…

Building upon the experience of past projects like SHOW and AVENUE, ULTIMO will deploy large fleets in three European cities to achieve a commercial level public transportation service.

With Deutsche Bahn at the helm, ULTIMO joins 23 partners from eight European countries for a period of four years. Within the project, UITP is proud to lead dissemination and outreach activities, ensuring engagement across the entire sector value chain.

ULTIMO will deploy AVs in three sites across Europe, namely Kronach (Germany) Oslo (Norway) and Geneva (Switzerland), each with 15 or more multi-vendor vehicles per site. The aim is to target the operation without safety-driver on board, in fully automated mode and with the support of innovative user centric passenger services. 

Overcome hurdles…by joining sector forces

The current limited lifetime of vehicles, plus the costs of on-board safety operators and technical advancements, means that certain economic challenges still have to be mastered.

In addition, needed changes to city infrastructure and the integration of AV services into operators’ Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offerings raise important questions on how to realistically integrate AVs into public transport networks.

The ULTIMO project will build on top of past experiences and projects, focused on tackling obstacles that are hindering large-scale AV uptake, including economical challenges.

What about MobileThinking?

Based on the experience gained in the AVENUE project, MobileThinking positions itself as an expert in the development of Services for autonomous mobility. We will be mainly active in the following two working groups.

WP3 - Open API for fleet management and AV
WP4 AI-based services for the ITS/CCAM ecosystem

To simplify, we will work on the interoperability of the different services, operators, vehicle manufacturers (WP3) as well as on the creation of high level services aiming at achieving the same quality of service with an autonomous vehicle as with a vehicle with an operator on board.

Partners

The ULTIMO project consortium -  "Advancing Sustainable User-centric Mobility with Automated Vehicles" brings together 23 partners: 

DB Regio Bus DE
Université de Genève CH
Hochschule Pforzheim DE
Transports Publics Genevois CH
Ruter AS NO
Navya FR
Yogoko FR
Sensible 4 OY FI
Trapeze Group Europe A/S DK
Union Internationale des Transports Publics BE
Padam Mobility FR
Altran Innovacion ES
BAX Innovation Consulting SL ES
Ethniko Kentro Erevnas Kai Technologikis Anaptyxis EL
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft DE
Centralsupelec FR
MobileThinking SARL CH
Arthurs's Legal BV NL
ArgYou AG CH
Etat de Geneve - Département de l'économie et de l'emploi CH
Swiss Association for Autonomous Mobility (SAAM) CH
Open Geneva CH
ZF CV Systems Global GmbH CH

Acknowledgements

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

This work has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
EU SERI