The research project CATAPULT, funded by Urban Europe, has developed methods to determine how automated transport systems are beneficial for specific groups and what the consequences could be for those that are left out. The project gathered knowledge and made guidelines for policymakers to be able to improve or create inclusive automated mobility solutions in cities and urban regions.

Many potential users of these services, their willingness to use them and appropriate use cases have so far been underrepresented in the development of automated mobility solutions. Potential users include children, senior citizens and people with temporary and long-term sensory and / or physical impairments.

Automated transport requires special attention in the design phase, perhaps improving on solutions that are seen in busses today or needing entirely new designs.  

CATAPULT will provide important information for the development of practical “step-by-step” recommendations for policies and for providers of mobility services.

The project was a European collaboration project, implemented with partners in Austria, (Austriatech & Factum) Belgium (KULeuven) and Sweden (RISE).

Map over Europe. Sweden, Belgium and Austria is marked in a cyan colour.
Partners located in Austria, Belgium and Sweden.

Latest news:

  • „Critical for a few, essential for many, and good for all “– Final Conference of CATAPULT.
    Conference Report On February 23rd, 2023, the CATAPULT, SmartHubs and JUSTICE Conference took place in Brussels. While SmartHubs and JUSTICE will continue their work until mid 2024, for CATAPULT, the conference marked the end of the project. In the one-day event, the projects presented their approaches on making the future mobility system more accessible and… Continue reading
  • From Theory to Practice – How our Serious Game was developed
    A Serious Game can be understood as a game with a different purpose than pure entertainment. In our CATAPULT project, we aimed at making a Serious Game as a tool to co-create inclusive and accessible automated mobility solutions. We developed an online and a physical version of the Serious Game that have been tested and… Continue reading
  • Call for Papers – TOTS Special Issue “Accessible and sustainable mobility services”
    As part of our work on the topic of inclusive and automated urban mobility and to expand our contribution to academia, the CATAPULT project team is making an effort on publishing a Special Issue in the Transactions on Transport Sciences (TOTS) journal. With the aim of bringing together current research on accessible and automated mobility… Continue reading
  • Skyline of Leuven, Belgium with churches, houses and trees
    CATAPULT mid-term conference in Leuven
    As our project has passed its half-time mark in March, we used the occasion to convene for a mid-term conference at the end of April at KU Leuven, Belgium. We discussed our first results, reflected on the activities and planned for the next and final year to come. To better engage with relevant stakeholders outside… Continue reading
  • How do we make sure autonomous buses are available for all citizens?
    Autonomous buses could be a great means for public transportation in our cities. But they need to be available and safe for all passengers. The Catapult project is aiming to improve and develop public transportation for the future. Autonomous buses are already being tested in several cities and researchers are making sure that they are… Continue reading