Are Modular Transport Units the Answer for Tomorrow’s Cities?

Prandtstetter, Matthias and Ritzinger, Ulrike and Zajicek, Jürgen and Ecker, Christian (2025) Are Modular Transport Units the Answer for Tomorrow’s Cities? URBAN INNOVATION: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO CITIES HAVE GONE BEFORE. Medium sized cities and towns as a major arena of global urbanisation. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2025, 30th Intl. Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 165-173. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

The transformation in mobility is driven by electrification and automation. This paper examines a shared mobility system that utilizes small, driverless pods for transporting passengers and goods, assessing its efficiency, economic feasibility, and environmental impact. We model the assignment of vehicles totrips as a Single Load Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows (SLPDPTW) and present an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation. Additionally, a heuristic approach is proposed to optimize trip assignments and the benefit of slipstreaming. We conduct computational experiments based on case studies from Austria to simulate various levels of adoption. The results indicate that there could be a reduction of up to 75% in the number of vehicles required. However, increased mileage can offset some of these benefits. While slipstreaming improves efficiency, the energy savings it provides remain uncertain. The economic viability of this system depends on reducing the per-kilometer costs of the pod, which may be achievable with advancements in technology.Automated shared mobility presents significant promise but also encounters challenges realted to sustainability and cost-effectiveness. Future research should explore larger vehicles, improved routing, and market developments.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	combinatorial optimisation, fleet size and mix, automated shared fleets, planning, mobility
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Depositing User:	The CORP Team
Date Deposited:	25 May 2025 15:51
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 10:47
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1236

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