Embarking on its fourth edition, the Rapid Applications for Transport (RAPTOR) programme by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, is set to push sustainable urban mobility challenges across Europe.
Thirteen dynamic cities spanning ten countries are part of this initiative, demonstrating their commitment to fostering innovation and addressing pressing urban mobility needs. Each city has put forward a key mobility challenge they are facing, and EIT Urban Mobility selected top European SMEs/startups to provide a solution. The mobility solution pilots will run until December 2024 in each city allowing for testing, citizen engagement and feedback on the solutions.
The RAPTOR programme represents a challenge-oriented platform designed to specifically tackle niche urban mobility issues identified by participating cities. Startups and SMEs are invited to propose innovative solutions to these challenges, with winners receiving €40,000 in funding to pilot their solutions over a five-month period within the city. Through these programmes, European mobility startups are able to showcase their solutions while collaborating with the city to develop innovations that meet citizens’ needs in this complex sector.
Adriana Diaz, Interim Director of Innovation at EIT Urban Mobility, emphasized the program’s agility and its transformative impact on European cities: “RAPTOR is about empowering European startups and SMEs to collaborate directly with cities, offering innovative solutions that transcend conventional approaches to urban mobility challenges, but it is also about empowering cities in testing innovative solutions to fix citizens mobility needs that constantly evolve.”
The 2024 city challenges along with the winning startup and their solutions are:
Bacău, Romania: How can Bacău create a diverse and accessible transportation system that effectively addresses the mobility needs of its senior population?
UK based startup Hilo’s Intelligent Road Illumination System (IRIS) offers 360-degree protection around the vehicle, receiving input signals and automatically sending warnings to vehicles that come too close and alerting the rider.
Brasov, Romania: How can Brasov improve the distribution of goods in the historical centre to reduce congestion and air pollution?
Romanian startup Rastel.io Solutions will pilot its automated e-cargo bike rental service, leveraging their existing smart and secure bike parking system’ that allows people to register and gain access to the fleet of e-cargo bike to rent.
Brussels Capital Region, Belgium: How might we facilitate the transport of goods and services within low traffic neighbourhoods efficiently?
Spanish startup Don Cicleto will install strategically placed nano-hubs, to facilitate the rapid transition of goods from conventional delivery vehicles to cargo bikes.
Fingal County, Ireland: How to effectively collect data and evaluate the impact of ‘School Streets/Quiet Streets’ in Fingal County to improve road safety, promote active travel, and enhance liveability?
Belgian startup DriveSimSolutions will pilot its solution that integrates drone technology and artificial intelligence to simultaneously observe and assess various metrics like traffic volume, origins and destinations, all road user trajectories, speeds, modal share, air quality data and even near-conflict detections.
Ghent, Belgium: How to improve traffic safety in Ghent through automated and cost-effective video analysis?
Maltese startup Greenroads’ solution Greenflow extracts detailed insights from video on traffic flows, and road user behaviours. Key features include traffic reports, mode recognition, heatmap generation, and trajectories that indicate near accident detection.
Graz, Austria: How can data collected during a traffic accident help and be meaningfully enriched in order to derive patterns for accident prevention?
German startup Mapular’s SmartDrive AI platform facilitates real-time accident reporting, GPS-based location marking, and photo uploads. By integrating the data with sensors, cameras, live movement and weather data, sensitive areas are analysed and highlighted in real time and used for accident pattern recognition, hotspot identification, and predictive modelling.
Helsinki, Finland: What are new, scalable (agile and highly automated, potentially crowdsourced) methods to collect detailed accessibility information relevant for a) vulnerable user groups and b) logistics on precise paths to travel with e.g. wheelchair or rolling cage?
Austrian startup Dreamwaves’ augmented reality app will be developed to include a user interface that allows for quick annotation of accessibility features for vulnerable citizens either manually by users or through an automated machine learning algorithm that identifies impediments, such as construction zones or misplaced e-scooters, directly on the scene.
Konya, Türkiye: How can Konya’s multimodal commuting experience be improved?
Nudgd’s Smart Nudges platform utilises behavioural science and nudging techniques to promote active transport choices such as biking, walking, or public transportation. By combining the stand-alone platform with an integrated version of behavioural science-driven nudges into widely used digital interfaces and public screens, Nudge aims to foster a culture of multimodal transportation. This integration ensures high visibility and engagement, driving a significant shift towards environmentally friendly commuting options.
Košice, Slovakia: How can Košice implement an intelligent, cost-effective traffic signal prioritisation system for public transport and emergency vehicles ensuring minimal infrastructural impact and technological compatibility?
French startup WISP Solutions’ AI-driven traffic light management system leverages real-time data and existing infrastructure, to reduce congestion, prioritise public and emergency vehicles, and cut CO2 emissions without new sensors.
Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain: How can we collect and analyse data on the accessibility of Las Rozas pedestrian infrastructure?
Italian startup LOKI’s AI-driven system installed on vehicles is used to identify, geolocate, and classify road defects. LOKI will add a dedicated camera, for automatic detection of access to crosswalks, identifying ramps, gaps, or obstacles or defects such as potholes. An accessibility index will be associated to each crosswalk, based on determined parameters.
Liepāja, Latvia: How can the CO2 levels of vehicles entering and leaving a specific urban area be monitored by using licence plates for identification and integrating them with a digital twin?
Estonian startup GaiaHub’s solution uses video data and sophisticated image processing capabilities to identify vehicle license plates upon entry and exit of designated zones in the city, extracting specific vehicle characteristics together with traffic density data from existing urban sensors, which is then used to calculate precise CO2 emission levels.
Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal: How to empower citizens to choose active travel with enhanced information on walking and cycling routes on the existing mobility platform?
UK startup OrchyMG’s solution, MARKED, identifies, and highlights the safest cycling and walking routes—those away from heavy traffic, well-lit, with good road conditions, and less pollution. This information is integrated into the routing system API and supported by colour-coded wayfinding.
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain: How can Vitoria-Gasteiz effectively monitor cycling, in order to understand existing bike infrastructure use and to ensure traceability and safety?
French startup Floware will deploy Bluetooth and computer vision-enabled sensors to collect data on cycling habits, infrastructure utilisation, and active transportation modes to provide valuable insights into traffic patterns allowing for informed decisions.
Press Contact Details: media@eiturbanmobility.eu
