Ambient Mobility

… is an exploration of future-facing innovations in mobility. The joint initiative between the Senseable City Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Mobility Innovation Lab at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO aims to create a synergy between the interdisciplinary research model exercised at MIT, and Fraunhofer IAO’s strength in transforming concepts into products. The mission of the Ambient Mobility Lab is to become a global frontrunner as a pioneering institution for ‘smart mobility’ research to analyze, design, develop and test senseable and sustainable mobility systems in interaction with other future urban systems.

Ambient Mobility operates in tomorrow’s new urban paradigm. The near-future of mobility will be radically transformed by pervasive deployment of sensors, networked technology, and the big data that they generate. These advances, hand-in-hand with self-driving technology, intelligent transportation systems, new forms of design and applications as well as electric vehicles, are poised to revolutionize urban flows. The distinction between individual and mass transportation systems will erode, as public and private mobility is blurred. Ambient Mobility works towards a future in which extensive ride and vehicle sharing – enabled by dimensions of autonomous driving such as the optimized vehicle relocation – will provide personalized, on-demand mobility with modular car concepts addressing the specific requirements of cities. The parallel trend towards electric vehicles will re-shape urban energy needs and require innovative means of integrating of vehicle fleets with the power grid and reveal potential opportunities. The broad spectrum of smart mobility applications will result in a drastic reduction of circulating vehicles, travel times, emissions, and parking infrastructure, presenting enormous benefits for urban communities. The Ambient Mobility Lab seeks to understand and impact these trends through the design of future urban mobility systems.

The Ambient Mobility Lab initiative is supported with fundings from Ministry of Finance and Economics of Land Baden-Württemberg.