Finland Finnish self-driving technology company Sensible 4 has carried out a successful autonomous driving pilot in Tampere, Finland, despite the worst and most challenging winter conditions in years.

The pilot, which started in January and lasted for 2.5 months, aimed to see how autonomous vehicles work with public transportation networks and collect feedback from users. Two self-driving Toyota Proace vehicles were used as feeder traffic for the tram trunk line in a suburb of Tampere — a city aiming to pioneer smart city development. The passenger feedback collected was mainly positive and focused on improving accessibility for people with disabilities.

“The self-driving vehicles ran smoothly and felt safe. In the future, I see these kinds of vehicles complementing the public transportation system for certain routes and amounts of passengers. We still need more testing to make sure the reliability in production use, and that the service either brings cost-saving in the areas they are being used or gives better service level to the population with the same costs”, says Mika Kulmala, Project Manager, City of Tampere.

The pilot was a part of the EU funded SHOW project, with an aim to find out how autonomous vehicles could work as a part of urban transportation in the future. The project’s national coordinator Pekka Eloranta from Sitowise is also satisfied with the results of the winter trial: “We got a good amount of passengers to try and test the service, even some regular customers. Also, we were able to collect feedback, for example, concerning accessibility. This aspect is important to take into account to be able to provide service to all user groups in the future.”

Also, Jussi Suomela, CBO of Sensible 4 is very satisfied: “This pilot was valuable for understanding the customer and end-user needs better, including especially the accessibility aspects. The weather was exceptionally snowy but the software and vehicles performed well and we were able to collect important test data of the extreme conditions and experience of the challenging weather.”

The pilot supported the strategic goal of the City of Tampere to be a pioneer in smart city development and was a successful example of multi-stakeholder cooperation. It also provided lessons and experience for other projects. The Smart City Test Area project aims to strengthen the competitiveness of companies and research institutes in the Tampere city region and it offers companies opportunities to test new services in a real urban environment.

“We’d like to see more activities like the autonomous vehicle experiment in Hervanta. The open living lab test area has been designed and developed according to the needs and interests of testers. Also, there’s a new three-year EU project starting next fall to develop the digital infrastructure in the area further, based on the feedback we’ve already received”, says Markku Niemi, Programme Director, Smart City Development, Business Tampere.

Read more about the pilot in extreme conditions in Sensible4’s article.

Virta opens an office in Singapore to help Southeast Asian and Australian players with fast EV charging markets entry

The year 2022 will see the Southeast Asian EV charging markets moving to the hypergrowth phase as political decisions, regulations, and incentives drive the new EV sales and charging infrastructure roll-out in the region. Australia, Singapore and Thailand are leading the growth.

Booming electric vehicle sales call for an urgent ramp-up of the charging infrastructure

“Still today, the Southeast Asian markets lag on average three years behind the European, but the gap can be closed quickly thanks to the matured availability of smart charging technologies and the wave of new EV models introduced to the markets,” says Mr Elias Pöyry, who is responsible for the new market expansions at Virta Ltd. His assessment is based on the perspective gained in his position as the chairman of EURELECTRIC’s electromobility working group representing the European energy industry in electric transportation matters.

During this decade majority of the region’s population will move to the higher consuming classes and can afford an electric vehicle. Also, on consumer purchase indicators, Southeast Asia is quickly catching up with Europe, where the plug-in vehicle share of new car registrations has already reached 40% in many countries. Currently, 30% of consumers in Thailand and 19% in Singapore prefer a fully electric or plug-in hybrid car as their next car (Deloitte 2022 Global Automotive Consumer Study, March 2022). According to even the most conservative estimates, this development will result in at least one million EVs on the road by 2025 and well over five million by 2030 in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand alone.

This forecasted EV sales hypergrowth calls for rapid and extensive investments in public and private charging infrastructure. For example, the Australian Government’s future fuels and vehicles strategy (November 2021) aims to create an environment for 1.7 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 and provide convenient access to fast charging for up to 81% of the population in partnership with industry. Meanwhile, in Singapore, The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will launch a tender in April to deploy 12,000 charging points across nearly 2,000 HDB carparks.

The window of opportunity is open for regional and local players to beat the multinationals

“We see that strong regional and local players in SEA and Australia have now a unique window of opportunity to establish their market shares before the multinational competition. However, time is of the essence here. Developing the same level of technological maturity from scratch as the multinationals with walled garden solutions will take so long that the early mover advantage is lost,” says Mr Dave Mommen, the Sales Director of Virta Southeast Asia and Australia.

Virta regional sales engineer Mr Roger Chang has over 14 years of experience with start-ups, scale-ups, and most recently in the EV charging point operations in the region before joining Virta. According to Mr Chang, “The Virta platform’s mature technology and multi-tenant service model developed in European markets means that capabilities to operate and monetise smart EV charging services locally and cross-border can be set up within weeks instead of months.”

Of the many technological advantages of the Virta platform, Mr Mommen and Mr Chang highlight the topical relevancy of data security and smart energy management features. The latter enables step-by-step optimisation of installation and grid-connection costs on the individual property level and makes it possible to take advantage of the local solar power resources.

On a local and national level, Virta energy management technologies ensure that the chargers are connected to the local grid, considering the grid limitations and hence securing electricity network stability. Virta patented bi-directional Vehicle-to-Grid technologies also give access to the future energy flexibility markets and new revenue streams for companies.

First partners announced in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand

Virta Southeast Asia and Australia regional headquarters is located in Singapore. First published contracts include partnerships with Thailand-based EVolt Technology Co., Ltd., Malaysian VSD Automation, Tetris Energy of Australia, and Singapore’s leading taxi fleet operator with over 12 000 taxis.

Read the original article published on virta.global.

Kempower is the new EV fast charging partner for Mer Norway

Mer, one of the leading charging point operators in Europe, has chosen Kempower as one of its new electric vehicles (EV) fast charging partners in Norway. Kempower and Mer Norway have signed a frame agreement on Kempower’s DC fast charging technology deliveries to Norway. Following Mer Norway’s ambition to provide sustainable electric mobility to everyone, they will establish charging stations with Kempower technology at scale.

The European charging company Mer has footprint in Norway, Sweden, UK, Germany and Austria. Owned by Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy, the company has over a decade of experience within EV charging. Established as early as 2009, Mer Norway (formerly Grønn Kontakt) has been one of the leading charging operators in Norway – also known as the pioneering country for electric mobility. Within this time, Mer Norway has established over 300 fast charging stations across Norway.

– Our mission is to make sustainable electric mobility easy and accessible to everyone, and we have an ambitious build out programme in Norway in order to keep up with the strong EV adaptation. Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we are happy to partner up with Kempower who clearly share the same vision as Mer, says Nicholai Sheridan Jørgensen, managing director of Mer Norway.

– We are extremely happy for the cooperation with Mer Norway. Kempower has recently gained a strong foothold on the Norwegian charging market, and we are looking forward to developing the charging experience further with Mer’s customers – the Norwegian EV drivers, says Tomi Ristimäki, CEO, Kempower.

For years, Norway has been the leader in electrifying cars: in 2021, two-thirds of new cars sold in Norway were electric.

Original news published on Kempower.com.

DESTIA AND ELECTREON START COLLABORATION IN FINLAND

Destia, a leading provider of charging infrastructure services in Finland, and Electreon, an Israel-based wireless charging technology provider, will be showcasing wireless charging for electric vehicles in Vantaa, Finland. The companies will be testing the solution in preparation of potentially integrating Electreon’s technology into Destia’s electric charging solution.

The companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and as part of the collaboration, the companies will first test the wireless charging solution by integrating Electreon’s wireless system to a commercial electric vehicle (EV). This will give fleet operators the opportunity to experience the benefits of the wireless charging in use.

Both companies see great potential for wireless charging and wireless electric road systems, that is roads that power electric vehicles, particularly for professional transport. Electric road system deployments can also help decrease emissions from the transport sector and create conditions for electric vehicle commercialisation.

“Wireless charging and roads and depots that power the cars driving on them have great potential especially for the professional transport segment. Wireless charging can improve efficiency by allowing for example trucks and vans to charge while loading or taxis to charge on the go as they move through taxi queues waiting for passengers. Testing the technology is a first step towards its adoption. As an EV charging service provider, we are eager to see how Electreon’s wireless charging technology can complement our electric charging service,” says Jere Jokinen, Head of EV Charging at Destia.

“We intend to enter the Finnish market through a collaboration with Destia. Combining Destia’s strength in charging infrastructure and services with Electreon’s seamless technology in both static and dynamic wireless charging will be a competitive solution for many operational businesses within the transportation segment,” says Maher Kasskawo, Business Development Manager, Electreon.

Later, the companies see an opportunity to move to commercial collaboration, where Electreon’s wireless charging system and related operation and maintenance services would be provided as part of Destia’s electric charging service.

Destia offers EV charging solutions for businesses and professional transport, its customers include bus operators, logistics companies, vehicle manufacturers and taxi companies. The end-to-end service consists of the electrical infrastructure, charging devices and their remote management as well as equipment maintenance.

Read the original news article on Destia.fi.

The Finnish smart ports pioneer Awake.AI has launched a new service, Voyage Event API, that provides automated messages when vessels enter or exit user-defined areas.

The Event API service provides actual time event information and notifies about the vessel arrival times to various areas during port calls (e.g. pilot boarding places and berths). The service provides time references automatically and objectively. Thus can be used for examplein a statement of facts or records for billing.

The service enables personnel in various roles related to the port call to prepare in advance for the arrival of vessels of interest without continuous manual monitoring. Other use cases include monitoring traffic in reserved or hazardous areas. For example, areas close to a port can be temporarily or permanently reserved for dredging, sailing competitions, environmental restrictions, etc.

Read the original news on Awake.AI.

Nodeon Finland piloted new technology to analyse traffic and improve traffic safety. The technology is based on LIDAR and AI. During the pilot, a traffic census with an accuracy of over 95 per cent was achieved and developmental leaps were taken towards a C-ITS solution that improves traffic safety.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a rapidly developing type of technology. With LiDAR, the physical environment is scanned in detail through a digital 3D point cloud model. In the vehicle manufacturing industry, LiDAR sensors are used in autonomous vehicles, in particular.

In summer and autumn 2021, Nodeon Finland tested the use of a LiDAR sensor and artificial intelligence in Helsinki to monitor and count traffic flows at a junction, as well as to improve traffic safety. Partner in this pilot was Bluecity Technology.

The pilot was a part of Forum Virium Helsinki’s and City of Helsinki’s Jätkäsaari Mobility Lab project, which supports the testing of smart mobility innovations.

The Helsinki pilot was the first of its kind in an authentic street environment in Finland. Based on the results, Nodeon and its partners began productising its solution for new markets.

Read the full article published on testbed.helsinki to learn what kind of data was produced through the system and what were the pilot results.

VTT joins the EU’s SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking as a founding member. The objective is to modernise and digitalise the use and management of European airspace and to enable innovations of the new generation of aviation, such as inspection and delivery drones, electric aircrafts and air taxis.

How one man’s idea started a revolution in the mobility industry

The concept of mobility-as-a-Service was invented in Finland, and with the help of open-minded people ranging from politicians to various transport service providers and city officials the country provided a perfect test base for MaaS to develop and spread across the globe.

Mobility-as-a-Service is set to enable a whole new way for consuming transportation. Spotify did that to music and Airbnb enabled this for accommodation: turning ownership to service that one could pay for on the go. The mobility revolution however, is much bigger. The goal is to offer everyone the possibility to move whenever and wherever they want, door-to-door, without having to own a car, and therefore change how the world moves and eventually how physical communities are built.

The world’s first commercial operator, MaaS Global, was born in Finland, and with their award-winning Whim app, the company has set the pace for the global development of MaaS. The revolution didn’t start with one tech dream team working through one weekend to create a feasible MVP. The story of MaaS begins from understanding the Finnish telecom revolution, followed by years of cooperation between companies, public authorities, and decision-makers, deregulation, and shared vision.

Take a look at the detailed history of the idea that started a revolution in the mobility industry published by MaaS Global: History of MaaS – How one man’s idea started a revolution in the mobility industry. 

Bus passengers, in the region of Skåne in southern Sweden, can now pay for their trip without using a physical ticket, cash or card. Together with Telia and the technology company Ridango, Skånetrafiken launches Express Mode for Apple Pay.

“We are proud to be part of Skånetrafiken’s ongoing efforts of innovating to make public transport easier, safer and more attractive to passengers. If we can encourage people to take the bus instead of the car, by making public transport easier, both carbon dioxide emissions and congestion in our cities will be reduced, says Björn Hansen, Head of IoT at Telia Divison X.

Express Mode for Apple Pay means Skånetrafiken’s customers can now use the “tap-and-go” payment method by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch to the ticket reader on the bus. The solution is a further development of “Blippa” – the first contactless payment service in the Nordic region. Customers with Apple Pay can access buses and pay without having to start or unlock the device, open an app or use Face ID or Touch ID. You don’t even need to validate with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Travellers simply need to enable a payment card in Wallet that’s eligible for Express Mode.

The solution is another step forward in making it easier for people to choose public transport. Express payment enables faster boarding and less crowding, reduces hassle with money, cards or tickets and increases safety and security as passengers no longer need to open their bag or wallet to travel by public transport. Remarkably, customers can trust this payment method even when their device has run out of battery thanks to the “power reserve”*.

The idea is that if cities are to become easier to live and move around in and communities more sustainable, the alternative of public transport should be an easy choice.

“We are very happy to be the first in Scandinavia to launch Apple Pay’s Express Mode on our city buses. Together with our partners, we have worked intensively to make this possible and it is very fun to now see the result,” says Björn Pettersson, associate product owner at Skånetrafiken.

Kadri Haufe, Chief Commercial Officer at Ridango, says that the launch is a monumental step towards a seamless customer experience.

“This was the first Apple Pay’s Express Mode Apple Pay’s Express Mode implementation for Ridango, and we’re proud to have such an impact through technology. This is what the future of public transport is all about – providing new technology which makes it safe and effortless for the passengers to travel,” she says.

Facts:

Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay. When customers use a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted, and securely stored in the Secure Element, an industry-standard, certified chip designed to store the payment information safely on the device.

Apple Pay is easy to set up. On iPhone, simply open the Wallet app, tap +, and follow the steps to add your credit or debit cards. Once a customer adds a card to iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac, they can start using Apple Pay on that device right away.

*On a compatible iPhone with the latest version of iOS, power reserve is available for up to five hours when your iPhone needs to be charged. You can use Express Mode cards with power reserve with iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR or later.

During a ticket control the traveler must have a functional mobile with battery.

Read the original article on Teliacompany.com.