'MOBILITIES for EU' begins to electrify urban transport in European cities

'MOBILITIES for EU' is a new project funded by Horizon Europe with the goal of implementing new mobility and freight transport concepts in the EU. The project forms one of the approaches to implementing the European Green Deal and is expected to last for five years.

Bringing together 29 partners from nine European countries, the project’s central themes are electrification, automation and connectivity of urban transport. The project takes a holistic approach to sustainable mobility in Europe, with 27 innovative mobility solutions for both passengers and freight as well as tackling the big area of mobility infrastructure. These solutions include small, self-driving electric buses for public transport and the development of a “Sovereign Mobility Decentralised Data Ecosystem for automated driving”.

Following the initiation of the project back in January 2024, the two lead cities of Madrid (Spain) and Dresden (Germany) are set to demonstrate the effectiveness of some of the solutions before passing them on to “Replication Cities”. The replication cities include Ioannina (Greece), Trenčin (Slovakia), Espoo (Finland), Gdansk (Poland), and Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina). The tested processes and solutions in lead cities will then be applied in these cities, with some adaptations made to the tested solutions.

To ensure the new urban mobility solution applications are able to meet the needs of city residents and other local stakeholders, Urban Transport Labs (UT Labs) will be set up in all seven project cities. The labs are involved in all project phases, especially in the co-design of pilot activities and in the planning of up-scaling and replication activities after the project duration.

“The big strength of MOBILITIES for EU is its holistic approach. The demonstration of 27 innovative urban mobility solutions for both passengers and freight as well as tackling the big area of mobility infrastructure will provide crucial insights to everyone working in the field of electric, automated and connected mobility,” says Julia Vicente Gómez, MOBILITIES for EU project coordinator and renowned expert in the field of urban transformation towards climate neutrality. “A key component for me is the establishment of local Urban Transport Labs in our project cities. Through the Labs, we gather a wide variety of perspectives across sectors and professions. In the end, we can only achieve climate neutrality in our cities if we work together, break silos and design innovation centred around actual urban needs.”