Smart Mobility

A Smart City is a city or town that works more efficiently through the use of digital technology, improving its mobility, safety and environment.

Smart Mobility comprises the development of an intelligent mobility network. It is a redesign of the traditional approach to mobility in cities. New technology makes it possible to connect and innovate all aspects of mobility.

This leads to more efficient, sustainable and integrated use of all forms of transportation, mobility services and shared infrastructure. In a smart city, residents and visitors seamlessly combine their own cars and bikes with all forms of public transport, shared services such as shared cars, shared scooters and shared bikes, on-demand solutions such as Uber and Lyft, and shared infrastructure such as charging stations.

Through Smart Mobility, the city administration aims to realize a visible change in the city landscape. Thanks to the availability of integrated mobility services, people become less likely to buy their own cars. This has an immediate impact on a city’s livability: fewer traffic jams, a higher level of traffic safety and better air quality too.

The 5 foundations of Smart Mobility

Flexibility

Residents and visitors can select different types of transport, depending on their needs and the circumstances.

Integration

Smart applications combine the different forms of transport and services into a seamless route.

Efficiency

Integrated mobility services offer the shortest and fastest means of transport. Traffic jams, and their related economic burden, are reduced.

Clean technology

Diesel and petrol engines will gradually disappear from the streets, and will be replaced by zero-emission vehicles. The air quality is improved.

Safety

Smart road guidance improves traffic control and management, leading to fewer accidents and traffic deaths.

4 keys to success

Shared real-time information

In practice, the success of Smart Mobility depends on the flow of information. Local authorities and service providers support each other to improve this flow. Sharing real-time information creates a foundation for active road guidance, for instance, through dynamic traffic signs and speed limits, but also by distributing information on traffic problems, roadworks, etc. This makes it possible to act quickly and reroute traffic in the case of incidents, but also to take proactive measures to avoid potential congestion.

Cooperation

Active cooperation between all stakeholders is required to achieve results with this shared information. On the one hand, this involves local authorities, i.e. provinces, cities and municipalities, including the local police and fire brigade, but also non-profit organizations working around mobility and traffic safety. On the other hand, companies and individuals are also involved: both the consumers and the providers of transportation, public transport and other mobility services.

Raising awareness

In the next step, targeted information is used to persuade citizens and companies of the benefits, the necessity and the added value of Smart Mobility. Communication about the results is essential in this process. Success stories generate momentum for new initiatives.

Added value

Smart Mobility also provides feedback. New insights into traffic situations are a good basis for further adjustments to the mobility policy. This creates tangible value for all of a city’s residents and visitors: smoother and safer traffic, more efficient use of the mobility budget, and improved livability and air quality.

Inetum-Realdolmen: your partner for Smart Mobility

We are your trusted partner throughout your entire Smart Mobility project: from the first assessment of the current mobility situation to the roll-out of concrete applications. In our approach, every project is supported by active cooperation between all stakeholders.

We believe it is important to build a horizontal solution to avoid creating data silos. Based on a co-creation process, we build a future-proof data environment. We then use this environment as a basis for creating various Smart Mobility solutions tailored to the requirements of a city or town: from in-depth analysis of the current situation to specific applications, for instance, smart parking, traffic or streetlight control.

Our approach is built around two in-house solutions. City Of Things is a modular solution to convert camera and sensor data into usable data. The solution is GDPR-proof, has multiple uses and limits the number of cameras in the city. The Smart City Data Platform, which is hosted on Microsoft Azure and uses FIWARE as the context broker, ensures standardized and connected data. The platform is the launchpad for the next generation of applications, which focus on the user, the environment and the goal.

Smart Mobility in practice

Curious what Smart Mobility can do for your city or town? Discover how Harelbeke has benefitted from the advantages of Smart Mobility.