Freight transport has often been neglected in urban traffic management. Though it is very important for the business and life of a city, commercial traffic has never been given much attention in the transport planning process. Traffic congestion, scarcity of loading and unloading areas in city centres, and sub-optimal delivery routes negatively influence the efficiency. In addition, freight transport contributes to environmental problems and traffic congestion, as well as to safety concerns.

The SMARTFREIGHT project wants to make urban freight transport more efficient, environmentally friendly and safe by answering to challenges related to traffic management, freight distribution management, and a better coordination between the two:

• Today, it is not possible to take traffic management measures towards freight vehicles, based on information about the current traffic situation, the profile of vehicles, the amount and type of cargo;
• Traffic management systems do not serve those organising freight transport in the city. Freight distributors do not benefit from more reliable traffic information and are not rewarded for 'desired behaviour' such as the use of back-load and green vehicles. It is also difficult to predict the access to limited resources like loading and unloading areas;
• Freight distribution management in city centres is usually operated by several commercial companies and there is no coordination of these activities in a way that would benefit the city.

The main aim of SMARTFREIGHT is therefore to specify, implement and evaluate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions that integrate urban traffic management systems with the management of freight and logistics in urban areas. The actual transport operations carried out by the freight distribution vehicles will be controlled and supported by means of wireless communication infrastructure and on-board and on-cargo equipment.

Read the SMARTFREIGHT Leaflet (pdf, 330Kb)

SMARTFREIGHT Webstream Presentation by Dr Tom Cherrett View our online introduction to the project (11 minutes, 25 slides, requires Internet Explorer)

SMARTFREIGHT is a research project co-funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme for R&D, Theme 3 'Information and Communication Technologies'.