SmartRail Ecosystem shaping the future of smart and sustainable urban mobility

The joint ecosystem offering addresses the growing complexity of modern transport systems, where cities and operators must simultaneously manage traffic flows, provide inclusive mobility services, support tourism and event‑based travel, and prepare for the gradual introduction of automated and autonomous transport. Traditional, siloed solutions are no longer sufficient to meet these interconnected needs. Urban mobility challenges cut across organizational, technical, and sectoral boundaries. The SmartRail joint offering brings together complementary capabilities from multiple ecosystem partners to provide cities and operators with one coherent solution framework.

Experiment‑driven development through real-world focus areas

SmartRail’s development is driven by needs and challenges identified within the city, connected through a common digital and operational foundation. Close collaboration with municipalities, transport authorities, service providers and other stakeholders ensures solutions reflect real operational, regulatory, and societal requirements.

Focus area 1: User‑centric digital mobility and data‑driven urban services

The SmartRail Ecosystem joint offering advances user‑centric, data‑intensive digital mobility and urban services by developing innovative and sustainable solutions that make everyday travel smoother, more accessible, and more attractive. The work focuses on next‑generation mobility services that integrate transport with a broad range of urban services, combining existing and emerging modes into seamless travel chains and supporting a growing shift toward sustainable mobility. In Tampere, particular attention is given to tram‑based travel chains, complemented by digital mobility solutions for tourists and advanced wayfinding tools for major destinations such as the hospital area.

Central to this development is the ability to manage digital identity and trusted data flows across organizations. SmartRail leverages digital identity wallets and secure data spaces to enable publicly subsidized mobility in the social and health sectors to be integrated with public transport, supporting more sustainable service provision and laying the foundation for a broader City Access concept that connects mobility with other essential urban services. The ecosystem partners reinforce this vision through contributions ranging from trusted digital identity solutions and unified multimodal service interfaces to AI‑based destination planning, accessible travel chains, and data‑driven tools that enable internationally scalable, next‑generation urban mobility.

• Tieto – Trusted digital identity solutions enabling the use of European digital identity wallets in complex travel chains, including publicly subsidized transport travel rights verification
• PayiQ – Unified public transport, mobility, route planning, and hotel services in one interface, supported by AI‑based assistance and secure digital‑identity‑based travel rights verification
• Moovy – Moovy Green multimodal journey solutions linking park‑and‑ride with public transport and providing real‑time CO₂ tracking
• Solita – AI‑powered destination planning and personalized mobility recommendations
• Tampere University – User-centric research enabling accessible travel chains across healthcare and tourism, including tramway impact assessments
• VTT – digital mobility solutions, advanced wayfinding tools, and cross‑sectoral data spaces supporting the next generation of data‑driven urban mobility.

Focus area 2: Real‑time situational awareness for traffic management and urban planning

Developed traffic management innovations provide cities with the high‑resolution situational awareness required to make traffic safer, smoother, and more sustainable. By combining advanced sensing, edge computing, secure communications, intuitive interfaces, and AI‑driven analytics, the ecosystem delivers a continuously updated view of the urban environment – a powerful tool for both real‑time operations and long‑term planning.

A core challenge in urban mobility is reliably identifying, tracking, and predicting the movement of pedestrians, cyclists, e‑scooter users, and vehicles – each with distinct characteristics. SmartRail focuses especially on vulnerable road users, slow‑moving or stationary objects, and close‑encounter scenarios that pose heightened safety risks.

• Solita – Agent‑based traffic modelling grounded in real-time traffic sensor data, supported by a scalable data platform and federated learning environment
• Nodeon Finland – Asgard, a modular situational awareness platform transforming traditional intersections into intelligent digital infrastructure nodes through LiDAR, radar, camera, and traffic signal data fusion
• Aventi – Multi‑source traffic data aggregation and visualization using standard and open interfaces and protocols, combining data from LiDAR sensors and traffic signal systems, with features enhancing safety and accessibility for vulnerable road users
• VTT – Algorithms and validations for LiDAR‑based multi‑object tracking, vulnerable road user detection, close‑encounter identification, and activity‑ and agent-based traffic modelling.

Focus area 3: A safe pathway toward automated urban transport

The SmartRail Ecosystem supports cities in introducing automated transport step by step – maintaining safety, transparency, and public trust throughout. Solutions focus on reliable sensing, efficient edge computing, secure communications, and AI‑driven analytics that together build an accurate and predictive situational picture needed for autonomous operations.

A key priority is ensuring the safety of pedestrians and other vulnerable groups in environments where automated systems interact with conventional traffic. SmartRail contributes technologies such as bidirectional detection and warning systems for trams and other road users, enabling safer interactions in dense urban environments.

• Nodeon Finland – High‑resolution awareness of Asgard platform provides the foundation for safe interaction between automated vehicles, public transport such as trams, and other road users, while also enabling digital twins and simulation environments

• Aventi – Platform for aggregating, analysing and visualizing multi-source traffic data using standard interfaces and protocols, enabling seamless integration with other systems and supporting C-ITS capabilities.• VTT – Research‑based algorithms and validations, including multi‑object tracking from LiDAR point clouds, identification of vulnerable road users and close‑encounter situations, two‑way C‑ITS communication between trams and other road users, and control and monitoring of the driving behaviour of an automated tram car.

• VTT – Research‑based algorithms and validations, including multi‑object tracking from LiDAR point clouds, identification of vulnerable road users and close‑encounter situations, two‑way C‑ITS communication between trams and other road users, and control and monitoring of the driving behaviour of an automated tram car.

Together, these capabilities enable cities and operators to introduce automated urban transport incrementally, with safety, transparency, and public trust embedded at every stage.

Pilots and first deployments underway

Pilot implementations will begin in spring 2026 in Tampere, Finland. The pilots leverage the Lyyli Living Lab, the unique real‑world testing environment built around a modern tram operating in everyday city traffic. The platform enables rapid experimentation, real user engagement, and holistic evaluation of new mobility solutions.

The project is delivered by a broad consortium consisting of Aventi, Moovy, Nodeon Finland, iQ Payments, Solita, Tieto tech consulting, Tampere University, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, working closely with city partners and other key stakeholders.