On 15 January 2021, the first SHOW Ideathon took place online organized by ERTICO and EPF, with the support of CERTH, UITP and EUROCITIES.
In total, 39 people attended the event, including both SHOW partners and external stakeholders. A diversity of stakeholder groups was represented, with special focus on end-user representatives as we wanted to ensure that the solutions developed in SHOW benefit end-users and take into account their needs.
Four break-out sessions were held, each one focusing on a specific scenario for Automated Vehicle deployment, namely the following:
- Driverless shuttle for first/last mile
- Delivery shuttles for persons and goods
- Mass transit with driverless buses
- Shared on-demand Robotaxis.
The Ideathon participants were asked to consider each scenario from the end-user perspective, in terms of user needs, with special focus on: safety; ease of use; environmental impact; transport equity / inclusion / accessibility; speed / travel time. ‘Mobility personas’ were proposed to help envision different user profiles when thinking about user needs in the different scenarios.
The brainstorming sessions were followed by a plenary ‘enrichment’ phase during which the main ideas from each break-out session were presented and discussed in more detail by all participants and a selection was made of the ideas that could move on to the next stage of assessment:
- 24/7 surveillance on board and stand-by human assistance
- Tutorial film on board to explain how the service works
- Pick-up points for parcels in the neighbourhood
- Flexibility to adapt capacity to increased demand and potential impact on bus depots
- Accessibility, audio-visual messaging and assistance for PRMs across the whole trajectory
- New safety culture for AVs & improving perceived safety
- Possibility for individual use of Robotaxis by Persons with Reduced Mobility.
The best ideas gathered during the Ideathon, in terms of overall potential and potential for further deployment in SHOW, will function as input to successor ‘Hackathons’ in which we will work on realizing these ideas in practice as prototypes. Next, these prototypes will be presented to a panel of end-users for final input and feedback, during focus groups.
To be continued!
For more information, please contact: Delphine Grandsart from the European Passengers’ Federation, EPF (Delphine.grandsart(a)epf.eu).