Orchestrating the future of urban Mobility across Europe

One real challenge with connected autonomous mobility is coordination, i.e. how all the actors in a city (users, infrastructure, logistics, the different transport modes/vehicle types) work together or rather “speak” to each other in real time to avoid congestion hotspots and surprise delays.

The recently started EC project CHORUS is set to build the “orchestration layer” of future mobility. CHORUS addresses that “middle ground” by creating a framework for harmonization across modes, actors and cities.

In doing so, the project tackles the issue of siloed transport system, which makes scaling to pan-European level impossible: public transport systems, delivery companies, micromobility, private cars operate in parallel, rarely sharing data or planning together, and cities develop their own system. CHORUS aims to unlock cooperation so that transport becomes a unified ecosystem, and innovations can move across borders, through common standards, interoperable protocols, trust mechanisms.

CHORUS will bring its framework to life via 7 demonstration sites across Europe, chosen because they each pose different mobility challenges:

1. Zürich, Switzerland
   Last-mile deliveries via “Pick-Up / Drop-Off (PUDO)” boxes, automatic reservations, optimal location prediction using mobility, weather and event data.
2. Bern, Switzerland
   Autonomous “middle-mile” goods delivery, integrating with rail logistics, using real traffic and weather data to test performance and safety.
3. Geneva, Switzerland
   Integrating passenger and goods transport, using shared fleets, collecting and analyzing transport data to build a predictive “heatmap” of the network.
4. Paris-Saclay, France
   Combining electric car-sharing and autonomous shuttles (fixed route + on demand) with real-time data infrastructure.
5. Oxfordshire, UK
   Testing wheelchair-accessible autonomous minibuses, last-mile logistics optimization, and integration of freight and passenger services.
6. Trikala, Greece
   Piloting autonomous delivery robots in city logistics, plus collective perception systems for safety.
7. Helsinki, Finland
   Off-street delivery robots, safety systems for vulnerable road users.

Call to action for readers / partners

The project is looking for collaborators and invites participation of:

• city officials: watch for pilot deployments in your region. Join workshops and share your challenges
• mobility operator or tech provider: see where your solution could plug into the orchestration layer
• citizen / user: try autonomous shuttles, delivery bots, dynamic multimodal journeys and provide feedback

Source: The original article was published here