Digital curbside management to relieve commercial traffic

Digital curbside management optimizes curbside parking by enabling dynamic time slots for delivery vehicles, taxis, etc. The Smart Mobility team at Fraunhofer FOKUS has developed a smartphone-based curbside screening solution that integrates diverse sensor sources in the street space to obtain an accurate picture of the current street situation.

Zwei Lieferfahrzeuge parken in einigem Abstand zueinander in zweiter Reihe neben vielen parkenden Autos
© Philipp Plum / Fraunhofer FOKUS

Whether delivery drivers, tradespeople, or parcel delivery services, they all work under a lot of time pressure and depend on parking spaces in the city center. However, the reality is often different: they have to park illegally double-parked and thus become traffic obstructions.

Currently, the use of curbs is usually regulated statically by traffic signs. Flexible use is only made possible by temporary delivery zones. This approach does not adequately meet the needs of commercial traffic.

Digital dynamic curbside management increases the efficiency of these critical curbside areas by providing greater flexibility. Dynamic time slots can be booked in real-time for delivery vehicles, passenger transport by taxis, ridesharing, or future autonomous shuttles, according to the desired period of use and in a suitable size.

A central element of this is a recording of the current road situation. For this purpose, the Smart Mobility team at Fraunhofer FOKUS has developed a curbside screening solution that integrates various sensor sources to obtain an accurate image of the current road situation.

The team uses data from:

  • existing sensors in street lamps, in the road, etc.
  • Smartphones of road users
  • highly automated, connected vehicle fleets
  • a specially developed app that allows, for example, buses or garbage trucks to capture the road situation on the side.

Fraunhofer FOKUS merges the data in a data protection-compliant manner at its backend. This creates a real-time situational overview that can be used to orchestrate the use of relevant zones and prevent misuse.

In addition, the team created a simulation scenario to simulate urban traffic in Berlin for a full 24 hours. The simulation can be used to validate new digital approaches for commercial transport, including in combination with conventional measures such as fixed delivery zones and parking management.

Fraunhofer FOKUS will present the curbside screening solution at the Smart Country Convention in Berlin at the Fraunhofer booth (hub 27, 113) from October 15 to 17, 2024.

 

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