About the KelRide project
The KelRide project will run until the end of 2023 and is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of its “Digitization and Artificial Intelligence in Mobility” action plan. With funding of around 10.9 million euros, the country’s Federal Agency for Administrative Tasks (BAV) is responsible for the project.
Strong partners from industry, district and research
“Together with strong partners, we will drive the development of state-of-the-art technology for a future-oriented form of public transport in Kelheim. The knowledge we gain from KelRide serves as a possible solution for comparable mobility systems in other areas in order to ensure the regional accessibility of the population in the long term,” says Kelheim’s District Administrator, Martin Neumeyer.
Kelheim supports the development of the project and its specific goals, and will play a role in the development and implementation of the project. The area needs its local public transport to be optimized. This means the creation of additional, target group-specific offers that feeds into the goal of reducing conventional, motorized individual transport.
This is supported by the management consultancy P3 Group. P3 is using its project management skills and holistic organization to ensure punctual process and sustainable project success. P3’sexpertise also helps the calculation of the business case, as well as the development of the utilization concept as a blueprint for other municipalities. “For the P3 Group, as a management consultancy specializing in mobility of the future and its technology, KelRide is a very exciting project. We believe a very well thought-out basic principle can serve as a scalable blueprint for a large number of cities and counties across Germany,” says Marco Dargel, P3’s partner for autonomous driving.
The Department of Traffic System Planning and Traffic Telematics at the Technical University of Berlin is also involved. They are simulating mobility behavior in the Kelheim district and, with the aid of models, investigating the effects of the various shuttle concepts using the agent- based traffic simulation system MATSim (Multi-Agent Transport Simulation).
Via, the leader in TransitTech, will optimize booking, routing, assignment of passengers and vehicles, customer experience, and fleet management. In order for autonomous vehicles to reach their full potential as part of large- scale public transport networks, they must be on-demand, optimally routed, and shared by multiple passengers. Via has extensive experience using its technology platform to integrate autonomous vehicles into on-demand public transport networks around the globe.
“We are delighted to be able to work with partners and build on Via’s technology platform to realize an innovation project that is unique in Germany, and which promises to be groundbreaking for a new generation of highly flexible, autonomous public transport,” says Valerie von der Tann, Via General Manager Germany. “It is especially beneficial for municipalities in rural areas. On-demand, autonomous solutions within the framework of public transport will represent a great opportunity to radically improve access to mobility and to ensure the connection,” she adds.
Technology provider EasyMile will bring its innovative EZ10 shuttles as well as expertise in autonomous driving platforms to the project. “This project will ensure the reliability of our technology making autonomous mobility a profitable extension of public transport – a real service. We are very proud to be part of such a significant project,” says Gilbert Gagnaire, founder and CEO of EasyMile.