Welcome

to the official website of the project Country to City Bridge.

Here we will keep you informed about the progress of the project, news and results.

© KAMO

Motivation and goals of the project.

According to the “Mobility in Germany” study, the average number of people in a car for daily commuting is currently only 1.1, with correspondingly high space and energy requirements, as well as the resulting CO2 emissions per person and the high volume of commuter traffic. In particular, there is a large gap between urban and rural areas, for which there often seems to be no viable alternative to the private car. The C2CBridge project therefore explores alternatives to the private car to connect urban and rural areas as a complement to existing public transport services.

The goal of the project is to research an attractive mobility service with high social acceptance as an alternative to the private car for connecting rural areas with the city, based on new automated vehicle concepts and their networked operation in a ride-pooling fleet. Autonomous on-demand shared taxis in rural areas will provide a service that enables passengers to reach their destination efficiently, cost effectively and on demand. They will be designed to carry up to four people, wheelchairs, strollers and luggage. At mobility stations on the outskirts of the city, passengers will be able to transfer to conventional public transport or other alternative means of transport, such as rental bicycles. In addition, the vehicles should be able to travel in platoons in dense traffic to take up less space while improving safety and efficiency. This accessible and demand-driven mobility service will better connect rural areas to the city and existing public transport services.

Motivation

  • Wide accessibility gap between urban and rural areas

  • There is often no alternative to the private car in rural areas

  • 68% of all trips to work are made by car

  • Cars offer high flexibility & comfort, but cause traffic and are expensive

  • On average, only 1.1 people use private for commuting & they are parked and not used for 97% of the day

  • A mobility service with autonomous on-demand shared taxis to connect country & city

  • Shared, user-friendly, autonomous, connected, cooperative, battery electric vehicles

  • Space for up to four people, wheelchairs, strollers, luggage and more per vehicle

  • Convenient boarding, stopping and transferring at mobility hubs near the city

  • Connects to other modes of transport such as conventional public transport, rental bikes & more

  • Flexible, on-demand, sustainable & cost-effective complement to public transportation

Our solution

Our solution

  • A mobility service with autonomous on-demand shared taxis to connect country & city

  • Shared, user-friendly, autonomous, connected, cooperative, battery electric vehicles

  • Shared, user-friendly, autonomous, connected, cooperative, battery electric vehicles

  • Convenient boarding, stopping and transferring at mobility hubs near the city

  • Connects to other modes of transport such as conventional public transport, rental bikes & more

  • Flexible, on-demand, sustainable & cost-effective complement to public transportation

Goals

  • Research on how to design and operate a mobility concept that optimally combines innovative vehicles, infrastructure and conventional transport services.

  • Research on how to design mobility hubs for transfers between on-demand taxis and other means of multimodal mobility.

  • Research into how sustainable, individualized and publicly used transport vehicles should be designed to be used a spart of the mobility concept

  • Construction of physical demonstrators for vehicles and mobility hubs for visualization and validation

  • Digital visualization of the mobility concept, mobility hubs and vehicles for user studies, validation purposes and stakeholder participation formats

Project Partners.

Project Partners.

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with the institutes AIFB, ECON, FAST, IEB, IFL, IFV, IOR, IPEK, ITAS, ITI, ITIV, KASTEL and LTI

  • The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V. with the institutes ICT, ISI, IOSB

  • FZI Research Center for Information Technology

  • Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – Technology and Economics (HKA)

  • Baden-Württemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM)

Associated partners.

  • Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences – Faculty of Design (HSPF)

  • City of Karlsruhe

  • Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion

The first project, Country to City Bridge 1 – Analysis and Functional Solution Concepts, focuses on analysing the existing transport system, mobility behaviour and mobility needs in order to design the new mobility offer and the individual elements such as vehicles and transfer stations. The C2CBridge 1 project runs from January 2024 to December 2026 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM) with a total of €12.3 million. In addition to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V. are involved in the project.

The second project, Country to City Bridge 2 – Testing and Evaluation of the Concepts, focuses on the implementation of the developed concepts with the conversion and autonomisation of vehicles and the design of interior concepts as well as the construction of a transfer station and digital twins and the validation of the developed mobility system. The C2CBridge 2 project runs from August 2024 to July 2026 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM) with a total of € 12.7 million.

The two sub-projects.

The two sub-projects.

The first project, Country to City Bridge 1 – Analysis and Functional Solution Concepts, focuses on analysing the existing transport system, mobility behaviour and mobility needs in order to design the new mobility offer and the individual elements such as vehicles and transfer stations. The C2CBridge 1 project runs from January 2024 to December 2026 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM) with a total of €12.3 million. In addition to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V. are involved in the project.

The second project, Country to City Bridge 2 – Testing and Evaluation of the Concepts, focuses on the implementation of the developed concepts with the conversion and autonomisation of vehicles and the design of interior concepts as well as the construction of a transfer station and digital twins and the validation of the developed mobility system. The C2CBridge 2 project runs from August 2024 to July 2026 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) as part of the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM) with a total of € 12.7 million.

German Center for Future Mobility.

The C2CBridge project is embedded in the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM), which, with its four locations in Hamburg, Annaberg-Buchholz, Minden and Karlsruhe, is establishing a nationwide research network and pooling expertise in mobility research. During the course of the project and beyond, the locations will network through a series of events. These will serve to promote communication in the political, economic and social spheres as well as cooperation between the locations. Annual rolling conferences, seminars and winter schools will bring together researchers from the sites. Ongoing coordination between the projects at working and management level creates synergies and allows the transferability of project results to be advanced.