Mobility of people and goods will change dramatically in the next ten to twenty years, and mankind will witness another sweeping change similar to the one caused by the introduction of trains and self-propelling cars. The transport means ownership will decrease, and instead will be used as a service. MaaS is a concept which makes it possible for travellers to organise their travel itinerary by means of easy to use mobile applications. The future travellers will be brought to their destinations by multiple modes of transport systems, including shared bikes, public transport, shared cars and the innovative automated transport systems to come.
The MaaS Alliance organised its plenary meeting on the 14th of November at the RACC headquarters in Barcelona which also hosted the face to face meetings of the three MaaS Alliance working groups the following day. The plenary meeting was well-attended, and some very good progress was made in the work of the MaaS Alliance. Mr. Josep Mateu Negre, president of RACC, addressed an inspiring keynote to open the meeting which was presided by Mr. Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe and president of the MaaS Alliance. More and more transport operators, service providers and public authorities are turning to the MaaS Alliance. This clearly denotes the value and need to have an organisation such as the MaaS Alliance.
Erwin Vermassen, leader of the Technology and Standardisation working group, talks about the activity in Barcelona.
“As the leader of the Technology and Standardisation working group it was my utmost a pleasure to lead an enthusiastic team in discussing the working group’s next work topics. The final goal of the working group is to create and support a harmonised API specification which will remove the main blocking points preventing MaaS from thriving today. The working group wants to be a real “Do” team focusing on the specification of a well-specified MaaS API which creates a seamless connection between the different players in the MaaS ecosystem.
To demonstrate the necessity and value of this API, the group will develop demos, proof of concepts and reference implementations of the API specification. Instead of saving the world in one big stroke, the technology and standardisation working group will apply an iterative, step by step development approach which will lead to tangible results very early in the work process. By intensely collaborating with other initiatives and MaaS efforts the result should be a globally accepted specification which, in the long run, will evolve into a global MaaS standard. The technology and standardisation working group applies a bottom-up approach which takes the current and existing efforts and realisations as a basis for the specification work.”
Should you be interested in the work of the Technology and Standardisation working group or the MaaS Alliance in general, do not hesitate to contact the MaaS Alliance secretariat at ERTICO – ITS.
