Shared Connected and Automated Vehicles Data for Net Zero Transport in Great Manchester

Traffic congestion in Greater Manchester costs the local economy £1.3 billion every year and contributes to 34% of overall carbon emissions. To tackle this challenge and move towards a net-zero future for Greater Manchester transport, this project explores Shared Connected and Automated Vehicles (SCAVs) as a solution for more sustainable, convenient, and eco-friendly urban transportation. These vehicles promise to significantly reduce emissions and pollution, potentially cutting down on consumption by 15-20% and diminishing the need for private car ownership by enabling Greater Manchester residents to access the core public transport infrastructure.

As SCAVs rely on extensive data to operate effectively, there is a key data sharing challenge to address in order to smoothly integrate these innovative SCAVs into the broader urban transport network, especially when merging first and last-mile services with existing public transportation to create a seamless travel experience.

This project aims to break down barriers to data sharing between P3 Mobility UK (P3), a company focusing on automated vehicle technology and Mobility as a Service solutions, and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), the authority overseeing transportation services across the region's ten boroughs. TfGM is actively exploring ways to incorporate Shared Connected and Autonomous Vehicles into their larger net-zero transport strategy outlined in the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy for 2040\. Meanwhile, P3 is gearing up for the nationwide launch of their shared autonomous taxi fleet in 2027, forming a crucial part of the First and Last Mile Service (FLMS).

Both TfGM and P3 recognize the importance of sharing data to enable connected mobility across the first and last-mile segments, facilitating access to key transport hubs within Greater Manchester. But a better understanding of each party's needs of one another's data is required. To achieve this, Arup's Digital Highways/Intelligent Mobility team will conduct focused discussion groups with relevant stakeholders, culminating in a feasibility study that assesses the potential for sharing urban mobility data. This study will address the nature and quality of existing data, identify gaps, and analyse viable methods for secure data sharing that are compliant with evolving regulatory and cybersecurity/privacy standards.

This project lays the groundwork for a crucial public-private data-sharing collaboration, anticipated to bring £31.6M of economic benefit to Manchester. Moreover, it serves as a blueprint for data-sharing practices across other large urban transport authorities across the UK.