CargoSurfer Makes Parcels Smart – Project Update
Passenger transportation and freight transport are almost always strictly separated today. But it doesn't have to stay that way – there is a new vision, especially for rural areas: CargoSurfer.
The research project includes KLU and seven partners and is developing an IT solution that will allow parcels to be reliably delivered in rural contexts using public transportation. On 28 and 29 September, the third project partner meeting took place in Hamburg on the KLU campus with Prof. Dr. André Ludwig as KLU project leader.
What has happened since the project started in January?
- 8.9 million data sets, including mobility data from the rail lines of the Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft and the bus lines of Regionalverkehr Main-Kinzig GmbH (RVMK), were incorporated into the AI forecast. On this basis, KLU has developed initial arrival time forecasts using machine learning for parts of the rail and bus network in the test regions.
- Capacity check for freight transport based on the RVMK bus schedule has been carried out, and a tour of project partner Behinderten-Werk Main-Kinzig (BWMK) has been entered into the prototype and is available for internal test purposes in the Trapeze DACH booking app.
- Final agreements were reached with project regions Spessart Regional and Gutes aus Wald Hessen for the planned launch of the website www.cargosurfer.eu.
CargoSurfer in a nutshell
The development of a digital logistics platform that brings together goods, shippers, transporters, and recipients to make residual capacities usable for local and supra-regional goods transport. The logistics platform is combined with a system of regional bundling points, or “micro hubs.”
Funding
The development and testing of CargoSurfer are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr, BMDV) as part of the mFUND funding program with around €1.85 million.
More information:
Press Release (19 January, 2022)