The HARMONY project supports and enables several metropolitan areas to lead a sustainable transition to a low-carbon new mobility era. For city logistics, innovative services and developments can serve as promising solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in metropolitan areas. The focus of this paper is on the importance of co-creation to achieve the desired reduction in emissions, including both engagement activities and (small scale) demonstrations. The constant and simultaneous involvement of cities, service and technology providers, research entities but also the civil society, is crucial for identifying success factors and lessons learnt.
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This article delves into the acceptance of autonomous driving within society and its implications for the automotive insurance sector. The research encompasses two different studies conducted with meticulous analysis. The first study involves over 600 participants involved with the automotive industry who have not yet had the opportunity to experience autonomous driving technology. It primarily centers on the adaptation of insurance products to align with the imminent implementation of this technology. The second study is directed at individuals who have had the opportunity to test an autonomous driving platform first-hand. Specifically, it examines users’ experiences after conducting test drives on public roads using an autonomous research platform jointly developed by MAPFRE, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The study conducted demonstrates that the user acceptance of autonomous driving technology significantly increases after firsthand experience with a real autonomous car. This finding underscores the importance of bringing autonomous driving technology closer to end-users in order to improve societal perception. Furthermore, the results provide valuable insights for industry stakeholders seeking to navigate the market as autonomous driving technology slowly becomes an integral part of commercial vehicles. The findings reveal that a substantial majority (96% of the surveyed individuals) believe that autonomous vehicles will still require insurance. Additionally, 90% of respondents express the opinion that policies for autonomous vehicles should be as affordable or even cheaper than those for traditional vehicles. This suggests that people may not be fully aware of the significant costs associated with the systems enabling autonomous driving when considering their insurance needs, which puts the spotlight back on the importance of bringing this technology closer to the general public.
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Public safety is under enormous pressure. Demonstrations regularly result in riots and VIPs are often threatened even at their homes ! Criminal graffiti-gangs are threatening security professionals and costing the Dutch railways (NS), causing a loss of 10 M€ yearly. The safety incidents often escalate quickly, therefore, they require a very quick and correct scaling up of the security professionals. To do so, it is necessary for the security professionals to get very quick and accurate overview of the evolving situation using Mobile Drone intervention unit for quick response (Mobi Dick). The successfully completed project The Beast (9/11) has delivered a universal docking station with an automatic security drone. The drone takes off from a permanently installed docking station. Nest Fly emerged as a startup from this RAAK project, and it has already developed the prototype further to a first product. Based on extensive interaction with security professionals, it has been concluded that a permanently installed docking station is not suitable for all emergency cases. Therefore, a mobile, car-roof top mounted, docking station with a ready-for-take-off drone is required for the more severe and quickly escalating incidents. These situations require a drone taking off from the car-roof top mounted docking station while the vehicles continue to drive towards the incident. In this RAAK KIEM, a feasibility study will be executed by developing a car-roof top docking station. The concept will functionally be designed within the project (task 1). The two required subsystems car roof docking station (task 2) and dynamic take-off & landing (task 3) will technically be developed and integrated (task 4). The outcome of the experiments in this task will show the feasibly of the idea. Task 5 will ensure the results are disseminated in new cooperation’s, publications, and educational products.
