Automated vehicles and COVID-19, what can we learn from it?

May 19, 2020

Automated vehicles and COVID-19, what can we learn from it?

The COVID-19 pandemic has halted the world nearly to a standstill. There has been a massive economic, social and welfare impact and the common factor is mobility. In LEVITATE, we are investigating the impacts of Connected and Automated Transport Systems (CATS) on our society. COVID-19 has been catastrophic event at world level, but we must learn from this tragedy and understand the implications for CATS era.

LEVITATE partner in the spotlight

“We welcome CAVs if they are able to contribute to our smart city goals, in other words, they help us remain one of the most liveable cities. But our general approach is: Autonomous Vehicles must adapt to the needs of the city and its inhabitants, not the other way round.”

Interview with Helmut Augustin, City of Vienna. Helmut Augustin holds a degree in Urban Planning. He has been working for the Vienna City Administration since 2004, currently in the Urban Planning Department, Section Mobility Strategies, as head of the Coordination Unit for Digitisation. He covers quite a big range of topics including (geo)data, quantitative analytics, data protection, Intelligent Transport Systems, Automated Driving and Geographical Information Systems.
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Watch the recorded 1st webinar on the impacts of automation in freight transport

The first LEVITATE webinar on 23 April was framed around the opportunities and challenges that freight transport is facing as a result of innovations in automated technologies. Looking at the current situation we are living in, discussions were also focused around the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the sector. Furthermore, expected changes in the implementation and operation of freight and logistics systems in the post-COVID times were on the table by representatives of ALICE, VIL and LEVITATE.
Watch the webinar »

Register for the 2nd webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport, 11 June

Urban mobility is going through unprecedented changes during this period. Cities are facing challenges which require unique solutions in no time due to the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to these, local mobility strategies for longer terms must be reviewed and adapted to the new normal. Will connected and automated technologies play a more substantial role in urban mobility? How can we predict their impacts on urban mobility? Register, and find it out with local representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester and LEVITATE work package leader on the case of urban transport: National Technical University of Athens.
Read more or register online »

LEVITATE in the news

LEVITATE in TRB annual meeting 2020
Perhaps the biggest transportation research conference in the world – TRB – took place this year from the 11th to 16th of January 2020. LEVITATE could not be missing from this prestigious event, and this year, the project was represented by several members.
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Advances in Connected and Autonomous Mobility – IEEE ITSC 2020 (Virtual Conference)
LEVITATE will contribute to this conference with a special session: Advances in Connected and Autonomous Mobility: From Data to Models, Impacts and Enablers for Adoption.
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CATs in the news

This Was Supposed to Be the Year Driverless Cars Went Mainstream (12/05/2020)
A new report published by the EU’s cybersecurity agency highlights the importance of high standards when it comes to connected vehicle security.
Policy to pave the way for autonomous vehicles (13/05/2020)
What is more likely in our generation is the possibility of having goods delivered by a self-driving vehicle, taking an autonomous shuttle, or hopping in a ride sharing service with no driver.
Driverless vehicles in the age of the novel coronavirus (13/04/2020)
Autonomous driving startup Voyage believes it is not explicitly benefiting, but it’s not at risk of going under either, says CEO Oliver Cameron.
European Commission’s report on the expectations and concerns of connected and automated driving (04/2020)
The report includes key findings of a large-scale survey carried out in the EU member states with a total of 27,656 respondents.
COVID-19 shows we need a broader definition of safe mobility (08/05/2020)
A safer future of mobility requires maximizing the use of automated driving systems to support, augment and replace human drivers where appropriate.

Upcoming events

26 May: INFRAMIX Final Event
27 May: CIVITAS ECCENTRIC webinar: How cities can promote electric mobility?
11 June: LEVITATE Webinar on the impacts of automation in urban transport
1 July: TransAID Final Conference
29-30 September: EU-EIP Roadmap for Automated Driving – Road Operators Perspective workshop
29 September-1 October: Urban Mobility Days

About LEVITATE

The LEVITATE project develops methods to forecast societal level impacts of connected and automated transport (CATs). This includes the impact of CATs on safety, the environment, the economy and society.

Launched in December 2018, LEVITATE is a 3-year project led by Loughborough University whose main output will be a policy support tool (PST) to help local authorities forecast the impacts of automated vehicles over the short, medium and long-term. The PST will also contain a back-casting tool providing guidance to local authorities on the measures to implement to achieve desired outcomes against a backdrop of increasing vehicle automation.

LEVITATE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824361.

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