International Transportation (71) 1 | 2019 26 PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS Business line Projects in a nutshell Overview of selected mobility solutions World’s biggest urban ropeway network completed T he tenth line belonging to the world’s biggest urban ropeway network is in service. The Línea Plateada (silver line) was the last to be opened as part of the 33-kilometer network. This network is comprised of detachable gondola lifts and constitutes the principal mode of transport for Bolivia’s adjacent metropolises La Paz and El Alto. The Línea Plateada closes the loop, which means that all lines are now interconnected. The Línea Plateada is an important element in the urban infrastructure of El Alto and La Paz: By connecting the red, blue, purple and yellow lines, it completes the last segment of the ropeway circuit. This means that all the lines are now interconnected. Modern ten-passenger cabins enable up to 3,000 passengers an hour to glide in each direction between the stations 16 de Julio and Mirador. The new line runs via the intermediate station Faro Murillo - the biggest station building in the network covering a total surface area of 10,000 m 2 . Here, passengers can change to the Línea Morada (purple line), which opened in September 2018. Since 2014, ropeways from Doppelmayr/ Garaventa have been part of everyday life for the residents of La Paz and El Alto. These installations make it easier for people to get from A to B, reduce traveling time and guarantee that they will get where they want to go on time. The ropeway network encompassing the two South American metropolises consists of ten lines with an overall length of approximately 33 kilometers. Since the first ropeway opened in May 2014, almost 200 million passengers have been carried to date. Every day, Mi Teleférico is used by some 300,000 people - as a means of getting to work, going shopping, going to school or accessing leisure time activities. The ropeways are also very popular with tourists. www.doppelmayr.com Línea Plateada at Faro Murillo station Source: Doppelmayr/ Garaventa International Transportation (71) 1 | 2019 27 Business line PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS Chances and challenges: E-scooters in the City of Portland E -scooters have the potential to advance transportation goals. This is one of the key findings from the “2018 E-Scooter Findings Report” published in Portland, Oregon. The report demonstrates that as the city of Portland grows and traffic congestion gets worse, e-scooters can move more people safely and efficiently in the same amount of space. This helps reduce reliance on automobiles and shift trips to an efficient, potentially less-polluting travel option. The publishers - the „Portland Bureau Of Transportation (PBOT)” - believe there is a preliminary indication that e-scooters are a less-polluting travel option. However, they need more data especially regarding e-scooter operations and lifecycle costs before they can definitively say how much or even whether e-scooters directly contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gasses. During a pilot in 2018, riders took more than 700,000 e-scooter trips on various types of streets. Throughout the city, sidewalk riding was lower along streets with lower speeds or designated bikeways. This clearly demonstrates how important it is to have protected facilities that minimize conflicts between pedestrians, e-scooters, and cars. For all of the positives about scooters that emerged during the pilot, PBOT also learned valuable lessons about the challenges related to making scooters a permanent part of Portland’s transportation ecosystem. Given the scale and scope of these challenges, they planned a second pilot in 2019. This pilot will be longer to give more time to test innovative solutions to the challenges that emerged this past summer and fall - specifically to focus the efforts on improving equitable access across the city and ensuring safe and legal riding and parking. E-scooter use impacted other park users and presented a significant management challenge for Portland Parks & Recreation staff. In addition, PBOT planned to conduct additional public and stakeholder engagement. www.portlandoregon.gov/ transportation/ e-scooter First cab-less autonomous e-truck in commercial operations on public road I t was a historic moment on 15 May this year, when the first cab-less, electric truck - Einride’s T-pod - drove on a public road. The world premiere and inaugural run took place at DB Schenker’s facility in Jönköping, Sweden. The T-pod will transport goods between a warehouse and terminal at the facility, as part of a commercial flow. The T-pod is self-driving, but will be supervised by an operator which, if needed, can steer the vehicle through remote control - one operator can control several vehicles. The vehicle can load up to 20 tonnes and is capable of driving approximately 20 miles on a charge. The Swedish startup Einride and leading logistics firm DB Schenker initiated their partnership in April 2018. The agreement includes the pilot in Jönköping and an option for additional pilots internationally. Ericsson and Telia provides the installation with high performance, 5G-based connectivity. In November 2018, Einride DB Schenker initiated the first installation of an autonomous, allelectric truck or “T-pod” at the facility in Jönköping, Sweden. It was the first commercial installation of its kind in the world. On 7 March 2019 the Swedish Transport Agency concluded that the T-pod is able to operate in accordance with Swedish traffic regulations. March 11, the agency approved Einride’s application to expand the pilot to a public road. The permit applies to a public road within an industrial area - between a warehouse and a terminal. The permit is valid until 31 December 2020. www.einride.tech Photo: Einride International Transportation (71) 1 | 2019 28 PRODUCTS & SOLUTIONS Business line Roadscanners Oy reconcentrates on road business F inland-based Roadscanners Oy sold its Rail Division business, including its Rail Doctor® software and related intellectual property rights, to Loram Finland Oy, owned by US-based Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. - located in Hamel, Minnesota, and established in 1954. Loram Maintenance of Way is one of the world’s foremost railway maintenance companies, specialized in maintenance equipment, contracting and consulting services. The acquisition will reinforce Loram’s know-how and service portfolio. After the sale, Roadscanners Oy will continue its business in other sectors, including its Road Division and Software and Hardware Division, in the field of road, street, bridge and airport condition surveys, diagnostics and asset management. Road Doctor Survey Van (RDSV), for example, offers a complete non-destructive survey system designed for road condition data collection and analysis. RDSV unites the Road Doctor survey packages in a single affordable easy to use plug and play high tech system. The Road Doctor software for simultaneous surface and sub-surface data analysis is able to synchronize and visualize data from several sources enabling multidata analysis. In addition, Roadscanners will continue investing in ITS-related research and development work. www.roadscanners.com Latvia Road Doctor survey van Source: Roadscanners Photo: Linz AG / fotokerschi Chinese electrical air taxi to be tested in Linz T he Chinese EHang Air Mobility Group and the Austrian FACC aviation company will take their air taxi to series production in Austria by 2020. A “Innovation Partnership” between EHang, FAAC and the public service provider Linz AG is decided to develop strategies and operations routines for the unmanned EHang 216 Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAV) in urban regions. The population of the world’s cities is growing rapidly. By the year 2030, 5.2 billion people will live in urban regions, about one billion more than today. The proportion of urban dwellers will then be 60 % of the world’s population, which will mean that people will be affected by traffic jams on the roads on a daily basis. Air taxis are expected to help solve traffic problems in cities by using airspace as a “third dimension”. Newly developed, environmentally friendly electric drives, high-performance batteries with short charging times, minimal space requirements for take-off and landing areas, fast computers and big data create the necessary conditions for tackling urban air- mobility concepts within and between cities. In addition to transporting people or goods, autonomous aircraft offer numerous other applications such as flights to transport urgent emergency goods or high-risk operations from the air in the event of environmental catastrophes. The market potential is very promising: According to a study by Roland Berger, there is a demand for air taxis worth EUR 32 billion over the next decade. The EHang AAVs are essentially ready for series production; certification procedures are under way. As soon as they are completed, the only obstacles to real flight operation are regulatory ones. Air taxis will be a component of future mobility concepts that is very different from what we are familiar with today. www.ehang.com