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As urban mobility networks expand to meet growing demand, even small accidents can have a big impact on passenger journeys. Now, Berlin-based startup Mapular is helping keep things on track with its SmartDrive AI solution for accident prevention.
“We are reducing the risk of accidents for both drivers and passengers by providing a clear picture of accidents and how they happen” shared Mapular Co-Founder Finn Geiger following a recent pilot project in Austria’s second-largest city of Graz.
Supported by EIT Urban Mobility, Mapular’s SmartDrive AI marks significant progress from the previously analogue ways of working in Graz’s transport network, where safety incidents have traditionally been recorded with pen and paper. Thanks to SmartDrive AI’s real-time accident reporting, safety data can be digitally processed and analysed, providing the city with new and deeper insights. These crucial takeaways will enable local operator Holding Graz Linien to improve safety, ensuring its modern fleet of over 250 trams and buses can transport passengers safely, comfortably and sustainably.
“With this digital accident report it should be possible to record data more accurately in the future. We want to use this precise data to discover accident hotspots and treat them preventively. In the best-case scenario, we will have fewer accidents in the future,” explained Robert Schnur, Traffic Supervisor from the Transport Supervision Team at Holding Graz Linien.
Invaluable collaboration
The partnership between Mapular and Holding Graz Linien was powered by EIT Urban Mobility’s RAPTOR Programme 2024. The RAPTOR programme pairs European cities with a specific urban mobility challenge with innovative startups, enabling a collaboration to tackle the issue through a piloted project.
“The magnitude of this challenge is the manual and outdated process. This leads to a higher number of road accidents and decreasing response time to these incidents,” Finn Geiger highlighted. The pilot project equipped Graz Linien drivers with tablets running SmartDrive AI, providing a user-friendly interface that makes it simple and convenient to log safety incidents.
With around 850 safety related incidents per year that all require documentation, whether it’s a passenger falling down or a vehicle collision, SmartDrive AI transitions Graz’s accident reporting to the digital age.
“EIT Urban Mobility’s collaboration and help has been invaluable in accelerating and growing our project,” Geiger stressed. “Both their strategic and marketing support has been really significant for us. And, they have been helping us to get in contact and connect with leading cities and other players in the urban mobility ecosystem in Europe.”
For Graz, the pilot project has been an eye-opening experience about embracing new ways of working to unlock the benefits of a data-driven approach. “We have realised how important it is to use the integration of digital data collection, especially in collaboration with Mapular,” Schnur said. “And, with the data we obtain, we want to contribute to a safer Graz.”
Enriched insights
By digitalising time-consuming paperwork, Mapular’s solution reduces human error when it comes to simple things like illegible handwritten notes or busy drivers forgetting to note down potentially useful information.
“We do not only want to change an existing way or process – we want to enrich it,” Geiger pointed out. The startup’s platform leverages GPS-based location marking and data analysis to help build safer urban environments, reducing accidents and their ripple effects, such as congestion.
“SmartDrive AI leverages a lot of geospatial data. This is what we are experts in, and this is what makes this product so unique. We are using GPS data for tracking the accidents, we are using live feed data for live updates and planning, and we are using historical data to calculate patterns and to do predictive analysis,” Geiger underlined. In addition, SmartDrive AI streamlines the whole accident reporting process for the city by removing the need for third party tools. “They can also use our automated report generation to automatically send the reports to their insurance,” Geiger noted.
Further on the horizon, Mapular wants to play a role in supporting a connected, integrated future for cities where authorities enjoy a full picture of their urban mobility network. For example, the startup envisions Internet of Things sensors working to detect hazards such as icy patches on roads and then directly alerting drivers to reduce risks and accidents.
With these richer, more detailed and more accurate insights, Mapular believes its technology can be a partner for cities, working hand-in-hand to build safer urban mobility networks.
