A Facility Scale Automated Mobility System

Moving people in and around large-scale facilities and developments, whether indoor or outdoor, is an important, unaddressed area in mobility. Existing options such as scooters or moving walkways fall short, particularly for travelers with disabilities as well as those with socio-economic disadvantages. The proposed Automated Mobility Platforms (AMPs) project addresses the need to provide sustainable and accessible mobility at the facility scale, with a vision to grow to district scale deployment. The concept uses an automated system of ondemand, light-weight electric vehicles (or platforms) to service short distance trips up to a couple miles in length. Phase I activities will concentrate on gathering end-user input and developing a robust system design with emphasis on airports and other large pedestrian facilities. Stakeholder input from both users and facility owners and designers will be transformed into AMPs system design requirements and specifications, with the goal of developing an initial prototype design for Phase II implementation. Phase I will develop design specifications, mapping of the user and facility requirements to physical and functional sub-systems, and technical feasibility assessment of required component and sub-component technologies. Initial deployment of AMPs will be targeted at facility scale installations. Specifically, deployment will be targeted at replacing moving walkways and people movers at airports in the United States. This represents a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity and will lead to more equitable, sustainable, and enjoyable transportation.