Madrid maintains plan to be international mobility test bed
Madrid, May 20 (EFE).- The Madrid City Council has said since the beginning of its current legislature that its ambition has been to develop “the largest mobility testbed” in the city to attract investment and create employment while favoring the movement of residents and tourists.
Madrid City Council Councilor and Environment and Mobility Area Delegate Borja Carabante has said that they are planning to open an “innovation office,” designed as a “one-stop shop” for all those who need information on how to start a business in this sector.
In addition, since the beginning of the year, the development of ‘SandBox’, a space located in the Villaverde district to test technological innovations in a controlled environment, continues with the aim of creating more than 8,000 jobs, generating investment of more than 300 million euros and making the Spanish capital one of the top 10 of ‘smart cities’ in the world.
“Mayor Martínez Almeida when he took office presented two essential axes of his policy: mobility and innovation,” Carabante told EFE, adding that the ultimate purpose is “to have citizens’ mobility in the palm of our hands so that with a single click we can have mobility available as a service concept.”
The Madrid City Council is to take part in the sustainable transport congress Global Mobility Call (GMC), to be held at IFEMA Madrid from 14 to 16 June, to “share experiences from other countries” and promote the work being carried out by the council.
One example is the first mobility regulations for remotely piloted aircraft in urban areas, for which they have created a committee in which “all administrations are involved.”
This advisory body, which is collaborating with the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency and other government departments, the aerospace sector, and the transport and innovation sectors, is looking to draft regulations that guarantee road safety with the use of autonomous vehicles, manned or unmanned, and remotely controlled vehicles.
Carabante said that currently “drone flights are not allowed, you can not fly over the city of Madrid,” which prevents some mobility solutions such as the delivery of parcels.
“I think that one of the trends must be to move towards the integration of mobility modes. We have to transcend that old concept that spoke of intermodality between car and public transport to talk about integration with new modes of mobility that are appearing: scooters, bicycles, pedestrian mobility, etc.,” said the councilor.
He stressed once again that the GMC is “a top-level event” for them, and they are giving it “an extraordinarily high priority,” especially because during the days of the congress, in his opinion, Madrid will become the ‘kilometer zero of mobility’. EFE
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