Launch of the Assistant project

The European Assistant (Aiding SuStainable Independent Senior TrAvellers to Navigate in Towns) project which will develop an ICT application to help older people to make unfamiliar trips on public transport has been launched. The three year project will develop an application for the home PC and smartphone that will be designed to help older travellers plan their public transport journeys and then receive guidance during their journey. This guidance will help them to find the bus that they need, warn them w
July 24, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe European Assistant (Aiding SuStainable Independent Senior TrAvellers to Navigate in Towns) project which will develop an ICT application to help older people to make unfamiliar trips on public transport has been launched. The three year project will develop an application for the home PC and smartphone that will be designed to help older travellers plan their public transport journeys and then receive guidance during their journey. This guidance will help them to find the bus that they need, warn them when to get off the bus, when and where to change to another route, and will also provide assistance if something goes wrong.

The application will be designed to help users who are unfamiliar with the local public transport system either because they are visiting somewhere that they do not know well, or because they are beginning to use public transport again after losing the ability to drive. It will also offer help with the difficult last mile of a journey from the point at which you get off public transport to your final destination.

The project involves eight partners from five countries with an overall cost of €2.7 million (US$3.27 million). It is a project that is supported by the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint Programme, which is funded by the 1690 European Commission and the National Contact Points for the AAL programme in each partner’s country. The Assistant application is expected to come to market by 2017.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Flexible, demand-based parking charges ease parking problems
    April 10, 2012
    Innovative parking initiatives on the US Pacific Coast. David Crawford reviews. Californian cities are leading the way in trialling new solutions to their endemic parking problems. According to Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California in Los Angeles, drivers looking for available spots can cause up to 74% of traffic congestion in downtown areas. One solution is variable, demand-responsive pricing of parking.
    Read More
  • Technology solution needed to counter mobile phone menace
    March 29, 2017
    With the UK set to increase the penalties for using mobile phones while driving, the RAC Foundation’s Steve Gooding considers what else can be done to combat this deadly distraction. The first mobile phone call was made in 1973, by an engineer working for Motorola. Today 4.7 billion people across the globe subscribe to a mobile service.
    Read More
  • Navigating a path towards greater safety
    May 31, 2013
    Eric Sampson takes a look at why the European Union’s eCall system is taking rather longer to arrive than it should. There’s an old story about the person who asked an Irishman for directions and after much thought he responded: “If you’re going there from here it would be better to start from somewhere else.” This came to mind when I was recently reflecting on eCall and wondering when it will come - some stakeholders say the answer is never. So despite years of workshops and discussions, eCall is still not
    Read More
  • Siemens: self-driving minibuses are the future of first-/last-mile
    February 26, 2020
    Markus Schlitt, CEO of intelligent traffic systems at Siemens Mobility, talks to ITS International about safety and why it is important for cities to offer additional shared and connected transit options.
    Read More

Highlighted Content