The UAB launches new carpooling app

The UAB launches a new pilot programme for carpoolers through the application developed by the UAB spin-off , Aslogic: VAOpoint, coinciding with Mobility Week from 24 to 28 October 27 at the Bellaterra campus. Some 500 people have already signed up.

25/10/2016

Each day, the Bellaterra campus fills with some 13,000 vehicles with a very low occupation index: 1.2 people per vehicle - the same average as that of the metropolitan region of Barcelona. Increasing the average occupation and achieving a rational use of the car is one of the UAB's objectives.

That is why the UAB spin-off Aslogic has launched the application VAOpoint as a pilot programme on the Bellaterra campus, coinciding with the UAB Mobility Week. The prototype functions in a very simple manner. By downloading the application to a mobile phone or through the web, members of the university community driving to campus can offer rides, and people looking to carpool can search for drivers according to their needs. The platform searches for those with similar needs and sends out a signal. The users are then the ones to decide whether they are interested in carpooling with people who have similar schedules.

Starting on 17 October 2016, those interested in signing up registered through the website http://vaopoint-uab.aslogic.es/ and created or searched for carpoolers travelling to or from the UAB. On 24 October the pilot programme began and carpooling will be possible through the application. The initiative will last until 11 November. The participants of the programme who answer a questionnaire will have the chance to win a Samsung Galaxy S7, courtesy of Aslogic.

In order to develop this application, FIWARE technology was used, a platform created by the European Union and aimed at providing an open, public and free architecture to help individuals and organisations develop internet-related products in the future. The VAOPOINT prototype is funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, addressed to centres with high levels of daily influx (universities, industrial parks, etc.).

Although the platform needs to be improved and will not be commercialised until a few months from now, "our idea is to make it available to those officially in charge of mobility so that they can make use of the new technologies in order to implement measures aimed at fostering more sustainable mobility habits", says Ignasi Ingerto, director of the spin-off Aslogic.

In contrast to those already existing on the market, the final product will include several mechanisms which will detect high-occupation vehicles from those which are not, by using consented and anonymised geolocation, cameras in car parks, etc., with the aim of implements measures which can foster carsharing.

A SPIN-OFF CREATED AT THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Aslogic is a UAB spin-off, created by a collaboration between two professors from the School of Engineering and a businessman dedicated to developing applications with high social impact. Aslogic is registered as a tech-based company, i.e. a special type of spin-off which allows the participation of researchers.

More information:
Website of the VAOpoint application