Sustainable mobility between networks, data and services: an intelligent platform to systemise transport

The transport sector is going through a phase of profound transformation, driven by three guidelines that have now become central to companies' strategies and public policies: safety, sustainability and digitalisation. This is not just a technological change, but an overall rethinking of the way people and goods move within territories and impact on the environmental transition. According to data from the European Environment Agency, in 2022 this sector accounted for around 29% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, with over 1,040 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. A significant figure not only because of its absolute weight, but also because transport (and in particular its road component) is one of the few industries to have increased its production of pollutants in recent decades, recording an increase of more than 25% since 1990. It is therefore easy to understand, numbers in hand, why mobility has become one of the key areas of European climate strategies: as part of the Green Deal, the EU has set the goal of reducing emissions from the transport sector by 90 per cent by 2050, while maintaining adequate levels of connectivity and economic competitiveness.

The challenge that concerns companies and public bodies does not only concern the replacement of vehicles with less polluting models, but refers to the need to implement more flexible management systems capable of adapting to variable flows and diversified needs. In large urban areas as well as in regional and metropolitan contexts, it is therefore crucial to integrate different modes of travel, making the use of available resources more efficient (and simpler) for the benefit of users. In other words, it is necessary to think of a mobility system capable of functioning as an integrated ecosystem with information updated in real time. The task of operators and regulators is consequently to deal with a scenario with increasing levels of complexity, in which networks, distributed services and all the (constantly increasing) data generated along the mobility chain converge: governing this set of elements requires tools capable of combining information from different sources and transforming it into insight to support operational and strategic decisions.

The benefits of integrated mobility, thanks to data and AI

In this scenario fits MOOVA, the modular and cloud-ready platform developed by Almaviva thanks to the experience gained by the group in the railway sector, one of the most demanding contexts in terms of safety and reliability. The solution was created with the aim of creating a technological environment capable of linking different transport modes and actors, providing a unified vision of the mobility system, from local public transport to road infrastructures via logistics. Adopted also in international contexts such as the railway and bus networks in Northern Europe and the metropolitan systems in the Middle East and the United States, MOOVA is designed to interoperate with existing applications and its peculiarity is that it collects and correlates data from different operators, overcoming the information fragmentation that often characterises the transport sector and enabling a more efficient management of networks and services.

A concrete example is the integrated ticketing system developed in Campania: passengers can directly use their payment card on enabled vehicles, without first buying a ticket, and the system automatically calculates the cheapest fare according to the trips made, exploiting the data provided by the different transport companies. The same principle guides the so-called 'Mobility Centres' based on MOOVA, which enable the coordination of vehicle traffic, public transport and shared services through the analysis of data collected along the network.

The platform also finds application in transport infrastructure monitoring, combining field-installed sensors, digital models and advanced data analysis tools to track the status of bridges, viaducts and other strategic works over time. The information collected is continuously processed to detect changes in structural conditions and to plan targeted interventions when necessary, complementing traditional periodic inspections with an approach more oriented towards prevention and efficient use of resources. Artificial intelligence technologies, which are used to analyse large quantities of data and identify recurring patterns in mobility flows, also find their place here; the aim is to provide decision-support tools for operators and administrations, helping to reduce network congestion and environmental impact. Alongside technological development, finally, Almaviva has also launched the MOOVA Academy, an e-learning platform dedicated to training and the dissemination of skills that fully reflects the company's vision: the transformation of mobility does not only depend on new vehicles or new infrastructures, but on the ability to make data interact in order to build a more efficient, safe and sustainable transport ecosystem.