UK: The Innovate UK innovation agency has awarded UrbanThings a grant to develop a coronavirus social distancing and contact tracing platform for public transport operators.
This is intended to help ensure that transport systems can operate with social distancing measures in place.
It will capture vehicle occupancy information from sources including smart card tap-in data, and feed it back to the operators and passengers. As the approach is account-based, it has the potential to integrate with emerging contact tracing applications.
‘With the nation slowly returning to work, we will begin to see the number of passengers using public transport steadily increase. This poses a huge challenge’, said UrbanThings CEO Carl Partridge. ‘Our technology will help operators manage their fleets based on demand, making it easier for them to ensure social distancing on their vehicles.’
