Espoo and Turku are working towards introducing automated traffic

On 24 August, the two cities will present the results of their studies at a webinar

For several years, the Finnish City of Espoo has been experimenting with automated vehicles. What is more, it recently joined forces with the City of Turku to enhance these studies. Together, the two cities dove into exploring the opportunities and future development prospects of automated transport.

According to a press release on Espoo’s municipal website, automated and self-driving buses would be more cost-effective. In addition to this, they have the potential to guarantee safer and more secure travel as they would eliminate human error. In other words, accidents stemming from mistakes made by drivers would no longer pose a threat to the lives of passengers.

What did the Finnish cities discover?

On 24 August, Espoo and Turku will present the results of their studies at a two-hour webinar. From 10 am until 12 pm, representatives of the two cities and experts from various transport companies will discuss their findings and the future of automated traffic.

The webinar will consist of introductory words by city representatives, followed by reviews of automated transport legislation and the presentation of the cities’ findings. After this, companies will share their thoughts before the webinar concludes with a final discussion.

All interested parties can join the discussion by signing up for the event online.

Investing in smart services

It is important to highlight that the study on automated traffic is part of the “Low-carbon mobility in transport hubs” project. In particular, it is part of a Six City Strategy project funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The Six City Strategy is reportedly a joint effort of the six largest Finnish cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu, and Turku) to develop more smart services and create new opportunities.

Taking this further, as its name suggests, the “Low-carbon mobility in transport hubs” project aims to develop low-carbon mobility services which will be accessible for all. The two Finnish cities are hopeful that through such studies and experiments, they will be able to introduce automated traffic in their cityscapes.