Overview
Technological and organisational innovations pave the way to an integrated transport system that coordinates and synchronises traffic flows along and across all modes – road, rail, water, and air. The EU-funded ORCHESTRA project will bridge the current silos within traffic management by defining a multimodal traffic management ecosystem (MTME) where different traffic management measures are coordinated and synchronised. This will ensure efficiency and resilience of the transport system and leverage integration of connected and automated vehicles and vessels. To facilitate large-scale deployment of a novel MTME, ORCHESTRA will provide a polycentric multimodal architecture (PMA) defining the roles, responsibilities, information models and governance structures required.
The long-term vision of the ORCHESTRA is a future where it is easy to coordinate and synchronise the traffic management of all modes to cope with diverse demands and situations. Also, to facilitate optimal utilisation of transport networks and efficient multimodal transport services, both in rural and urban areas. The project will:
- Establish a common understanding of multimodal traffic management concepts and solutions, within and across different modes, for various stakeholders and multiple contexts
- Define a Multimodal Traffic Management Ecosystem (MTME) where traffic managements in different modes and areas (rural and urban) are coordinated to contribute to a more balanced and resilient transport system, bridging current barriers and silos
- Support MTME realisation and deployments, through the provision of tools, models, and guidelines - including support for connected and automated vehicles and vessels (CAVs)
- Validate and adjust MTME for organisational issues, functionality, capability, and usability
- Maximise outreach and uptake of project results through strong stakeholder involvement
The project will provide a Polycentric Multimodal Architecture (PMA) that specify how diverse system components collaborate and interact, taking into account smart infrastructures, technical and organisational aspects and polycentric governance. The PMA will be supported by: 1) Enabling toolkit, 2) Deployment toolkit, 3) Documented lessons learned. The project will validate the PMA and related tools and toolkits in two Living labs (in Norway and Italy), collectively covering both road, rail, water, and air transport. The Italian Living lab is focusing on traffic orchestration for the mobility of people, while the Norwegian Living lab is focusing on traffic orchestration for freight. The Living labs will be supported by simulations to enhance evaluations.