Seminar Series on sustainable transportation successfully launched!

The first CSFM Seminar on Sustainable Transportation took place on March 23, 2023. The focus was on data analytics for sustainable mobility and the event attracted over 40 participants from industry and academia.

Martin Raubal, Professor of Geoinformation Engineering at ETH Zurich, discussed the importance of spatial data science and analytics in establishing a sustainable mobility system. He presented three projects addressed by his group: the first project, SBB Green Class studied the readiness of frequent customers of public transport to adapt to combined transport solutions including e-vehicles. Yumuv, analysed the impact on human mobility behaviour effects of mobility as a service bundle. Finally, solar power for e-cars addressed the potential of using a rooftop photovoltaic generation to cover the charging demands of individual electric vehicles under different smart charging strategies. 

Thomas Hettinger, data scientist at SBB, presented how data analytics is being applied to test the potential impact of new services. He also referred to the recently concluded project Yumuv. The findings will help SBB to decide about future services of this kind. An extension of the framework used in Yumuv (Trackintel framework) will be used to support decarbonization of the vehicle fleet. Currently, data analytics is mainly used to support decisions about whether a specific innovation project should move forward or be stopped. However, Thomas believes that data analytics should be used more in the other steps of the innovation process: from the initial phase of exploration of 'potential' to the very final 'rollout' of new products or services.

After the presentations, the audience could add comments and pose questions to the speakers. Throughout, the engaged audience ensured a lively and intense discussion.