What if you could know the fastest and cheapest way out of a traffic jam in real-time? Or be offered personalised travel options based on your needs and preferences? All while reducing your carbon footprint.
We're supporting a £46m investment in a new research hub that will use digital twins to collect data in real time through sensors connected to infrastructure such as roads, railways or shipping.
Researchers will use this data to test and improve different scenarios through a digital twin, so we can make changes in the physical world. For example, motorists could reduce carbon emissions if digital road signs are updated with real-time information on the shortest route out of traffic jams.
The hub will also work with passenger groups to model how people travel and make decisions.
Much like how your Netflix account learns your preferences, personalised digital twin assistants could also build an understanding of mobility needs and journey requirements. They could then offer near to real-time journey options based on individual needs and budget.
By speeding up the way new transport systems are tested it will help us to identify the lowest-cost pathways to net zero carbon emissions.
EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said:
“Digital twins offer an enormous opportunity to decarbonise our transport networks by testing the potential impact of changes more quickly, reducing costs and helping us to design the transport networks we need, when we need them.
Passengers and commuters will benefit through being able to choose the most sustainable travel choices, while transport operators will be able to speed up their work to provide low-carbon services.
TransiT is the result of considerable work between UKRI and government to identify how we can best harness the expertise of a wide range of partners across academia, industry and other organisations to ensure that we seize the opportunities digital twins offer.”
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University of Glasgow
Heriot-Watt University
