CIE’s Expert Group on Connected Cycling and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is now up and running with around 20 companies actively participating and Raymond Gense, Director of Future Technologies at PON in the chair.
This is right on time, because the EU Commission and many other partners are beating a path to CIE’s door to ask for expertise and coordination from across the whole cycling sector, from connected bikes to collecting data on cycle use for cities.
This burst of energy in the ITS sector has definitely been helped by the publication of the EU Green Deal and the recent passage into legislation of the EU Climate Law. There is a huge need to transform transport emissions in the EU as part of the deal, but actions on local and urban transport are currently limited, except for some strong statements on so called Smart Mobility, for example:
“Automated and connected multimodal mobility will play an increasing role, together with smart traffic management systems enabled by digitalisation.”
“The Commission will help develop smart systems for traffic management and ‘Mobility as a Service’ solutions, through its funding instruments.”
Our contacts in the EU institutions and other partnerships have followed this up with a very direct message. “Now is the time, we have been waiting for cycling to come forward and now you have to step up.”
Three examples of some critical topics are:
The lack of a common standard description for cycling infrastructure across the EU, and therefore no common standard for digital representation of cycling infrastructure, a legally binding requirement for EU member states to provide by 2023. The EU Commission has asked CIE to provide experts and partners to work on this challenge with Member States.
A complex discussion about the standard for bike sharing data to be used by cities and as an input to multi-modal data sets which will be used for Mobility as a Service. In the US the competing philosophies on data sharing have seen Uber and the city of Los Angeles end up in legal action, while in the EU we have GDPR as a different framework which requires us to create a European solution for data sharing which serves everyone.
Cities and partnerships are coming to CIE asking us to help them explain what smart cycling actually means and to help them find commercial partners who can support their local needs, rather than have to research the many providers, products and services in the field. This is especially true in the Bicycles and ITS (BITS) Project where cities actually have funds for ITS pilots and the chance to work with innovators in a research context.
To respond to these and other challenges the CIE Expert Group has decided to start working and cataloguing the initiatives and opportunities for cycling ITS under four provisional headings which will help the next steps of our advocacy and projects.
- MaaS - Mobility as a Service – working with the CIE Bike Share Expert Group and supported by a new CIE membership of the world-leading Mobility as a Service Alliance which brings into MaaS Experts from all sectors.
- Bike technology and tools improving rider experience. Working with companies that create applications, devices, routing, gamification, reporting, on-bike control systems, automation etc. to build an overall catalogue of smart cycling technologies.
- Connected, collaborative and automated mobility (CCAM) is a big and complex field which includes all the EU regulatory work on automated driving. In this area our partners at CONEBI are leading the cycling industry representation on the EU’s CCAM Platform, so we will support them as needed.
- The fourth work area is data. This is both a huge topic in its own right, but also a cross-cutting topic to ensure that the data needs of the three areas above are supported and coordinated. This will therefore be addressed in multiple ways as the Expert Group evolves.
Even these headings are broad, but the Experts taking part in the group have already identified political and business benefits to the sector if we can coordinate the work of cycling businesses in a structured way, exactly in line with the overall mission of CIE and CIE’s support for the BITS project.
Exciting times are ahead. We thank all the participating CIE members for their commitment to the topic.
To participate in the CIE Connected Cycling & ITS Expert Group, please contact Ayse Sumer, CIE Programme and Networks Manager (a.sumer(at)cyclingindustries.com).