SCALE-UP Project Success Story: A dynamic Route Planner in the city of Antwerp
SCALE-UP is an EU-funded Innovation Action, that started its activities in June 2021, with a duration of four years.
The project’s overreaching goal is the creation of a well-connected and climate-resilient transport system in three European urban nodes: Madrid, Antwerp, and Turku.
One of the main objectives is the creation & implementation of safer and more sustainable transport activities, that will facilitate the region’s mobility system.
Three SCALE-UP partners, Be-mobile, the City of Antwerp, and the Antwerp Transport Region have developed a freight route planner, as an efficient solution for the city’s transport system. The addition of a navigating app and the development of an API can be set as a good example to be followed by more European cities, promoting mobility in a low-cost, environmentally friendly, and efficient way for the citizens.
The pilot version was tested by Colruyt supermarket chain drivers and the City of Antwerp’s services, where the improved version is now tested by various companies across the Antwerp Transport Region, aiming for feedback and inputs to perfectionate the route planner. As a preferable next step, the partners have set the use of the planner by truck drivers, requiring more systematic cooperation between the freight community, the authorities, and the private sector.
Additionally, the upcoming steps focus on the development of an automatic database that facilitates the storing of all the information in the tool and ensures that data will remain renewed & updated.
The freight route planner can serve as a tool to develop mobility measures not only in the three project nodes but also in various European cities, varying in climate, culture, size, and population, all focusing on safe and inclusive mobility strategies for their citizens.