It is an unexpected attraction for spectators of the Paris Olympic Games (JO). In the leisure center of Trappes-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, strange little autonomous Urbanloop capsules allow you to go from the parking lot to the “fan zone” without having to walk, whenever you want. Once you arrive at the station, you just have to choose the front car, open the door, sit in one of the two seats and choose the destination. The narrow cabin then speeds alone, at a speed of 30 to 50 kilometers/hour. On the day of the Olympic events, when the fan zone is open, volunteers jostle to try it. This Wednesday, July 31, very quiet on the leisure center, a mother came with her son.
The system is the winner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games competition, organized by the Ministry of Transport, to show an innovative France, which offers solutions to decarbonize our travel. Urbanloop, which employs 30 people, was created by professors and students from the University of Lorraine, in Nancy.
During this seventeen-month test launched in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, around ten capsules will run on rails, following a circuit as wide as a cycle path. They must circulate for five seasons (including two autonomously) to be evaluated in all weathers. Each one has a name: Malika, Natacha, Marie… “These are the names of women who supported the project”explains Noémie Bercoff, general manager of Urbanloop, and whom the founder and president, Jean-Philippe Mangeot, professor of computer science and industrial networks in Nancy, wanted to thank.
The “last mile solution”
There is also a prototype on the university site in Nancy, as well as a project to install it in this city from 2026, to connect a park and ride to the city center via the Cité judiciaire. But Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, where transport is managed by Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF, is the first facility to welcome the public.
This transport invented in Lorraine should make it possible to transport, on demand, travelers who, after the bus or tram terminus, or after parking in the car park, still have a few kilometers to travel to reach their company, the city center or a public service. “This is enough to prefer the car to public transport, explains Noémie Bercoff. We are the solution for those last few miles”. And this even with few travelers.
“A metro is justified when it is necessary to carry 25,000 people per hour and costs 100 million euros per kilometer. Only six cities are equipped with it in Franceunderlines Ms. Bercoff. The tramway costs 20 million euros per kilometer to transport 5,000 people per hour.
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