The future of urban mobility is near. EU-backed trials of driverless cars in public transport could make Europe\u2019s city centres affordable, cleaner, safer, more efficient, inclusive and fair.<\/p>\n
By Gareth Willmer<\/p>\n
In Groruddalen, a large urban valley in north-eastern Oslo, Norway, the groundwork is being laid for an important shift in city transport.<\/p>\n
Five self-driving electric cars began\u00a0ferrying the public around the area in early February 2025. This marks a key milestone in an EU-funded\u00a0initiative to integrate automated vehicles into public transport systems.<\/p>\n
The Norwegian launch is the first of three planned as part of the ULTIMO initiative. The research team aims to lay the foundations for the world\u2019s first large-scale, on-demand, autonomous-vehicle public transport services.<\/p>\n
The greening and digitalisation of the transport sector is a key policy objective of the EU, which is investing \u20ac500 million\u00a0in a public-private partnership on\u00a0cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM).<\/p>\n
The aim is to develop citizen-centric, safer, environmentally friendly and inclusive public transport options, while also providing important new opportunities for European industry.<\/p>\n
On-demand urban transport<\/strong><\/p>\n The other two trial services are expected to start later this year, in the town of Herford in\u00a0northwest Germany and in the Greater Champagne district in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n The ULTIMO team brings together transport technology companies and associations, transport authorities, manufacturers, universities and consultancies from seven EU countries, plus Norway and Switzerland. These include the International Association of Public Transport, Siemens and Capgemini, among others.<\/p>\n The collaboration, set to run until September 2026, will create an economically sustainable model for \u201cdemand-responsive\u201d automated vehicles for\u00a0transporting people and urban goods. This means that, unlike unmanned subways that only follow their predefined line, for example, routes may vary in response to requests from passengers.<\/p>\n The key feature of demand-responsive\u00a0automation is that vehicles are fully autonomous within clearly defined designated areas like\u00a0Groruddalen. The system\u00a0relies on\u00a03D maps, radar, cameras and connected infrastructure\u00a0for decision-making.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are talking about integrating shared autonomous vehicles as part of public transport,\u201d said Christian Willoch, executive adviser for radical innovation at Ruter, the Oslo public transport authority.<\/p>\n The new automated systems will use electric vehicles. This should significantly reduce the environmental impact of road transport, estimated to be responsible for nearly a quarter of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to UN data.<\/p>\n Better connections<\/strong><\/p>\n The push towards the integration of automated transport into public transport systems is being seen all over the world.<\/p>\n The\u00a0EU\u00a0is a leading player in CCAM research, which it supports through public-private partnerships and EU-funded research and development initiatives like ULTIMO.<\/p>\n Through these efforts, the momentum is building to set up\u00a0on-demand public transport services and eventually integrate different public and private mobility options into a single digital platform to better meet the needs of residents in cities, or even regions.<\/p>\n Just the beginning<\/strong><\/p>\n Following an initial trial to gauge user experience, ULTIMO has rolled out its app for public use in Oslo. It allows passengers to book and share a luxury electric SUV \u2013 the Nio ES8 \u2013 retrofitted with self-driving technology.<\/p>\n The researchers\u2019 intention is to add other makes of vehicles into the mix, particularly European-made, as the service becomes more established. There is currently no charge to users, as part of the research being carried out is to assess pricing strategies.<\/p>\n Willoch said that initial feedback is very positive, but acknowledges that the potential fleet of 10 to 15 cars by the end of the project will need to be significantly scaled up to function as a real public service.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that to have an impact in our area and get people to reconsider using their private car, we may need around 500 vehicles,\u201d he said. The scaling-up should also bring prices down.<\/p>\n \u201cOur calculations show that with scale, we will achieve a price per passenger kilometre that\u2019s lower than for private cars.\u201d<\/p>\n Game-changer for urban mobility<\/strong><\/p>\n Andreas Fehr,\u00a0a consultant on autonomous driving at DB Regio Bus, a regional bus subsidiary of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn, is responsible for coordinating much of the work being carried out by the ULTIMO partners.<\/p>\n He believes that if such on-demand autonomous vehicle systems can be effectively deployed in the long term, they will be game-changers for public transport. But he acknowledges that a number of challenges remain.<\/p>\n At present, the vehicles being used still have a human safety operator on board. This already reduces human error, provides faster reaction time and more consistent driving behaviour, while still having human backup for complex situations.<\/p>\n Longer term, the aim is to have no safety operator, but it would require further advances in autonomous vehicle technology, with enhanced sensors and the ability to handle unexpected events. Comprehensive remote monitoring technology combining human supervision and AI software would also need to be in place.<\/p>\n It will also require automated in-vehicle services to meet safety requirements of the passengers, as there will no longer be a driver.<\/p>\n Remote monitoring will allow real-time insights and 360-degree view of road conditions, while still allowing humans to intervene when necessary.<\/p>\n Another challenge is the need to create standardised autonomous vehicle systems for public transport, which would make it easier to coordinate different services with one another and with\u00a0traditional public transport options.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having detailed conversations with the different manufacturers to understand the basic information we can build on to create mapping and API standards,\u201d said Fehr, referring to application programming interfaces, which comprise connections between computers or their programmes.<\/p>\n Part of the mission the ULTIMO team has been funded to deliver is to make mobility more accessible for those with fewer public transport options available.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big opportunity to provide increased mobility for people\u00a0who need it,\u201d said Fehr. He hopes the models that the team comes up with will lead to sustainable change in urban and suburban mobility, as well as to better access to transport in rural and less populated areas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will hopefully motivate more people not to use or buy their own car, but to use shared-mobility on-demand public transport,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the type of sustainable transformation we need as a global society.\u201d<\/p>\n Research in this article was funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.\u200bThis article was originally published\u202fin\u00a0Horizon<\/a>\u00a0the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of urban mobility is near. 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