SENATOR
Smart Network Operator Platform enabling Shared, Integrated and more Sustainable Urban Freight Logistics
| Business | Period | Project Coordinator | Funding Scheme |
|---|---|---|---|
| T&I | September 2020 - August 2024 | CORREOS SA | H2020 |
Challenge
The European Union is facing the need for sustainable urban development due to the expected demographic evolution in cities and currently there are some unresolved challenges of logistics in urban, metropolitan and peri-urban areas, such as the increasing demand for shared and connected services by users/citizens, the increase in associated costs and the atomisation of the sector, the congestion caused by the distribution of goods in urban centres and the resulting environmental consequences.
SENATOR has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 861540 to provide 4 governance schemes for urban planning policies:
- User demand planning,
- Transport planning,
- Freight & Logistics planning
- City infrastructure focused.
The new urban logistic model will be focused on the four urban layers: end-receiver, transport, logistics and infrastructure.
For this purpose, the project will develop a smart network operator supported on an ICT Platform for integrated logistics operation. The platform will act on 4 levels in an integrated manner taking into account demand, the fleet and its multimodal options, intelligent route planning and urban infrastructure analysis, all in a dynamic manner.
In order to test its effectiveness, Senator will be validated in a real environment in 2 Living Labs: in Zaragoza (Spain) and Dublin (Ireland).
Approach
In the framework of SENATOR, RINA is mainly responsible for the implementation of urban planning validation and governance tools in order to:
- use SENATOR dynamic planning tool and knowledge/techniques/best practices acquired, to produce a complete set of governances (including guidelines and directions) for urban planning which integrate freight, logistics and citizen mobility
- study logistic services, routes, policies and regulatory framework towards the redaction of Sustainable Urban Logistic Plans, delivering robust tools for urban planning integrating not only logistic aspects, but also Smart & ICT agenda, low carbon transport plans, Sustainable energy plans
Moreover, we collaborate with other project partners to define the Environmental Impact and Emission assessment of the Logistic proposed approach.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SENATOR project’s platform will work as a support tool for decision making, integration and planning of all logistics operations.
In particular, it will allow the optimisation of freight delivery services in urban areas, leading to decrease the number and distance of delivery routes by real-time information, predictions and planning optimisation based on Artificial Intelligence algorithms. Moreover, it will connects freight delivery services and collection points and it integrates all freight delivery requirements into urban planification.
In consequence, SENATOR will minimize the negative impacts that this distribution causes in the cities and will constitute an effective mean of collaboration between agents (operators, transporters and administrations, as responsible for urban planning).
