MELBOURNE, Australia & VIENNA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Majid Sarvi, AIMES Director and Professor Of Transport Engineering at the University of Melbourne, talks to Carsten Heer, econNEWSnetwork, about the Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem (AIMES), the world’s smartest ‘Mobility Hub’, developed together with Kapsch TrafficCom.
Professor Sarvi, you have set up the AIMES project, to develop the transport system of the future. What is it all about?
Professor Sarvi: Just like our phones got smarter through connectivity, we can now use connected transport technologies to make traffic in our cities safer, cleaner and more sustainable. To this goal, we implement emerging connected transport technologies in a segment spreading 6 km2 in inner city Melbourne. It’s the world’s first and largest connected urban testing ecosystem.
What are the big challenges?
We use real technologies in the real world at large scale and in a complex urban environment. There are more than 100 km of road network and more than 70 intersections as well as trams, buses, very heavy truck movement, cycling and walking. All these parts of the transport system can be connected and “talk” to each other. If the technology works here it is a real proof of concept.
How much money was invested?
Professor Sarvi: We spent about 30 million Australian Dollars over the past 4 to 5 years on the AIMES project. This is very little money compared to what governments usually spend to maintain the transport system and build new roads. You have to consider that in Melbourne alone, about 15 billion Australian Dollars are lost each year because of congestion.
You decided to involve technology partners – what did they do?
Professor Sarvi: Within an urban multimodal ecosystem you need technology partners. In Melbourne, the team at Kapsch TrafficCom Australia developed a ‘Mobility Hub’ to connect, inform and guide travellers. This technological know-how enables the City of Melbourne to test our new mobility strategies in a real-world environment.
Please find the FULL TEXT interview here:
https://www.kapsch.net/en/ktc/info-point/press/ktc-20211020-pr-en
About Kapsch TrafficCom
Kapsch TrafficCom is a globally renowned provider of transportation solutions for sustainable mobility.
Further information: www.kapsch.net/ktc
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