Projects

There are several smart mobility projects and pilots ongoing and completed in Helsinki - primarily focused in the West Harbour area and Jätkäsaari. The different cases include smaller experiments as well as bigger projects with different research aspects (e.g. EU projects).
Lidar

Traffic monitoring with LIDAR and edge computing

Nodeon

Testing the use of LIDAR technology and edge computing in traffic monitoring for the purposes of traffic management, planning and counting.

Goal: Testing the feasibility of LIDAR technology for traffic monitoring

Contact: Janne Rinne (Forum Virium Helsinki)

This project is one of the selected agile pilots. The solution was tested in the spring of 2021 as the first phase of the agile pilot process. In the fall of 2021, a second phase of the pilot was done, extending the pilot to also include the testing of C-ITS messages based on the detections.

Map of Jätkäsaari with information points for last 50 meter routing

Last-meter routing for delivery logistics

Tietorahti Oy

Finished Q1/2021 The Tietorahti mobile map provides detailed location and information about the entrances of buildings in the city center of Helsinki. The map also includes official loading sites for logistics as well as no-parking zones that are used for logistics. Once parked, the driver can switch from the mobile map to the routing tool Gatesolve which gives the shortest route to the right entrance by foot.

Making urban delivery logistics smoother by detailed entrance data and last-meter routing tool.

Schedule Q4/2020 - Q1/2021

Janne Rinne (Forum Virium Helsinki)

More info about the pilot (In Finnish)

https://forumvirium.fi/tietorahti-pilotti-helsinki/

Professional drivers from logistics companies take part in the agile pilot by giving feedback about the feasibility and further development needs of the solution. They also validate and complement the data on loading sites. This pilot was one of the agile pilots done in 2020/2021.

Wide aerial view of Jätkäsaari

Kiss-n-ride traffic to Jätkäsaari

Nodeon Photo: Ramboll

Nodeon's battery-powered automatic number plate recognition camera system combined with Traficom's vehicle registry determines anonymized information about vehicle traffic to and from Jätkäsaari, including their emission classes.

Goal The goal of the experiment is to gain a better understanding of the traffic to and from Jätkäsaari, including emissions related to those vehicles.

Schedule Q4/2020 and Q2/2021

Contact Janne Rinne, Forum Virium Helsinki

Traffic measuring points for the main junctions for vehicle traffic to and from Jätkäsaari. The objective is to get a better understanding of the traffic to and from Jätkäsaari. In addition to just number of vehicles, also the time spent there (e.g. short visits for maybe dropping off people to the terminal) as well as estimates of the emissions they bring in. There will be two measuring periods, first one being in Nov/Dec 2020 and the other in the spring of 2021.

The camera-based devices automatically identify licence plates of cars, and derive technical vehicle information from Traficom’s database. The use of licence plate information is approved by Traficom and it complies with national privacy and data security requirements.

No personal information (such as car owners’ names, addresses etc) is queried in the process. Vehicle information is used to produce traffic statistics, and individual road users cannot be identified at any stage of the analysis.More information on Nodeon’s solution, including data privacy can be found here.

Logistics hub next to Baana

Shared Micro depots for Urban pickups and Delivery (SMUD)

Finished Q4/2020 The distribution centre pilot ran 06/2020 - 12/2020. It aim was to gain new insights and lessons learned about the delivery of parcels by bicycles in particular for European-wide utilisation.

Goals The aim is to develop parcel distribution with zero-emission bicycles for online orders. In addition, it will facilitate other trials tackling challenges of city logistics in a densely populated city centre area.

Timetable 2019-2020

Contacts Pete Pättiniemi, Forum Virium Helsinki

The pilot implemented a local distribution centre for parcels. The hub, operated jointly by six operators, is located next to Helsinki’s busy Baana pedestrian and bicycle corridor. It was opened on 9 June 2020. The pilot ran until the end of 2020 and during that time, companies could bring their parcels to the shared distribution centre instead of every delivery company driving into the congested city centre with their own vehicles. From there, the deliveries were coordinated resource-efficiently utilising electric bikes and other low-emission transport modes.

Automated last mile delivery device

Last Mile Autonomous Delivery (LMAD)

Partners EIT Digital France and EIT Digital Finland, Futurice, Gim Robotics, BookIt, Picom, Bestmile and Forum Virium Helsinki with LMAD (Last Mile Autonomous Delivery).

The LMAD project is piloting an autonomous delivery robot in Helsinki and Paris. In 2020, the robot was piloted in Helsinki for B2B deliveries linked to a logistics hub by the cycle path Baana. In 2021, a B2C pilot with DB Schenker in Jätkäsaari is delivering packages to the end users in the area.

Goals The goal is to learn about the potential of delivery robots in open environments.

Timetable 2019-2022

Contacts Matias Oikari, Forum Virium Helsinki

The LMAD project includes building a robot, a fleet management system that enables autonomous mobility and an order system that allows the robot to communicate with customers. In addition to the technical implementation, a service concept is created by means of co-creation and service design and tested in a genuine urban environment with genuine customers.

User on an e-scooter

Micro-mobility data analysis

Vianova

Finished Q4/2020 Aggregated and anonymized mobility data from the micro-mobility operators will be available for the city in a dashboard, providing an overview of how, when and where the e-scooters, city bikes and other light vehicles are used and parked.

Goals The goal is to better understand the possibilities and tools for monitoring the use of e-scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles.

Timetable 4/2020-12/2020

Contacts Janne Rinne, Forum Virium Helsinki

Vianova’s solution is based on MDS (Mobility Data Specification) communication protocol which enables bilateral and secure exchange of data between mobility providers and cities.

View from behind a car with a bike crossing the road ahead of it

VizibleZone

VizibleZone

Finished Q3/2020 Israel-based VizibleZone (https://www.vizible.zone/) is developing a solution that improves safety of vulnerable road users. The solution works through a mobile app that analyzes road safety data, and is piloted in two phases. 

Goals Developing and piloting an application that can detect vulnerable road users crossing roads to alert drivers of potential collisions.

Timetable Q1-Q3/2020

First, data is collected to detect road crossings. Later, the intention was to send alerts nearby drivers to prevent a potential collision but due insufficient amount of data and users, the pilot did not proceed to the next phases.

The technology can alert drivers even if the pedestrian is located behind an obstacle and the driver can’t see him. The incident data can also be used by the city itself to improve the city road safety infrastructure. Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab supports the pilot by helping in finding test users to use the application which is available both for Android and iOS. The application also utilises Helsinki’s open data to map whether road crossings are done at crosswalks or traffic lights. 

Key functionalities that were planned:

Pedestrian mode

– Road safety behavior stats to improve on-road behavior
– Real-time alert in case the user watches the smartphone when approaching a road
– Volume control – Adjusting headphones volume near roads

Driver mode

– Collision detection alert – Alert drivers on possible collision with pedestrians, even when the pedestrian is behind obstacles and the driver cannot see him
– Alerting drivers in possible collision situations
– Real-time notification when entering crowded pedestrian areas

City road safety dashboard

– Aggregated and statistical data for the city for better planning the physical infrastructure for pedestrians’ road safety (e.g. crosswalk planning, bicycle trails, traffic light optimization)

Traffic jam in Jätkäsaari

Traffic Situational Picture

  • Infotripla Oy
  • City of Helsinki
  • Port of Helsinki

Solution developed by Infotripla integrates data from several sources, incl. vehicle calculation sensors, providing tools and increased awareness for traffic management to address congestion peaks resulting from ferry traffic.  

Goals

Improved situational picture and tools for traffic managers as well as open data and information for third parties.

Duration

Q3/2019 - Q4/2022

Funding

100k€, funded as part of the Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab.

Contacts

Mikko Lehtonen (City of Helsinki)

Related open data and APIs: https://helsinki.liikennenyt.fi/opendata/

As continuation for a FinEst Smart Mobility innovation pilot, a traffic situational picture solution is implemented in West Harbour. The project produces open data and information for third parties, such as traffic events and road incidents in the area, traffic congestion, route recommendations as well as the number of vehicles arriving through the harbour gates.

Bercman pedestrian crossing traffic sign in autumn

Smart Pedestrian Crossing

  • Bercman Technologies
  • Forum Virium Helsinki
  • PHOTO: Juho Kostiainen

COMPLETED Q1/2020. The smart pedestrian crossing was one of the agile pilots of the Last Mile project.  

Generating data that can be used for better planning of the city environment and improving traffic safety.

Schedule During 2019

The pilot is funded as part of the Perille Asti project.

Contact Heli Ponto, Forum Virium

Apart from enhanced visibility, the smart traffic sign includes technology that generates data on traffic volumes, speed, air quality and environmental conditions for transport and city planners.