The INDIMO project: making digital mobility more inclusive and accessible for all transport users

The new EU-funded project INDIMO (Inclusive Digital Mobility Solutions) kicked off its activities with its first consortium meeting, held in Brussels on 12 and 13 February.

The proliferation of digital solutions for the management of mobility systems has enabled the emergence of the ‘’connected traveller’’, who can independently plan travel routes, modes and departure times just by using a smartphone.

One of the main challenges for policy-makers related to the mainstreaming of digital mobility services, consists in ensuring that all members of society can benefit from such services. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand the needs and attitudes towards the growing digitalisation of mobility services of various users, in particular the ones that are more vulnerable-to-exclusion: namely, older, low-income, disabled people and migrants.

It is in this context that the INDIMO project comes into play: its main objective is to extend the benefits of digitally interconnected transport systems to people that currently face barriers to using such systems. To this purpose, INDIMO will co-create the INDIMO Inclusive Digital Mobility Toolbox for policy-makers, developers and operators of digital mobility solutions, through the involvement of a wider community of stakeholders. The toolbox aims to contribute to an inclusive, universally accessible personalized digital system. As a result of a 5-five stage co-creation process, it will include the following tools: a Universal Design Manual for digital transport services, Universal Language Interface for transport services, guidelines for cyber security and personal data protection, and a Policy Evaluation Tool.

The toolbox will be tested in five pilot projects. The pilots will address the needs of different kinds of vulnerable transport users, who experience barriers to access digital mobility, through the deployment of a differentiated range of innovative mobility and logistics solutions. Among them: smart lockers for deliveries, smart traffic lights, informal ride sharing systems, ethical cyclelogistics platforms, multimodal route planning and on-demand ridesharing.

INDIMO draws on a wide range of multidisciplinary expertise. The project, led by the MOBI Research Centre of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), will run until 2022 and includes the following partners: VDI/VDE-IT, IMEC, CambiaMO, Deep Blue, Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), Budapest Association of Disabled People, Zaragoza Logistics Center, Polis Network, European Passengers’ Federation, Door2Door, Vivero de Iniciativas Ciudadanas, CoopCycle, Istituto sui Trasporti e la Logistica, and Poste Italiane.

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