London Met wins £118k grant to develop intelligent software for electric taxis.
Date: 27 October 2015
London Met’s School of Computing and Digital Media, part of the faculty of Life Sciences and Computing have teamed up with green taxi company eConnect Cars to develop an intelligent dispatch system to enable the company to scale up their operations, efficiently and effectively.
Hassan Kazemian, Professor and Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Centre and Karim Ouazzane, Professor of Computing and Knowledge Exchange and KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) Director at London Met secured the £118,000 grant through the KTP scheme.
KTP’s are a nationwide scheme to utilise academic knowledge to resolve business problems.
The London based car service, who use only electric vehicles, are leading the way in zero-emissions taxis. The partnership with London Met will allow them to pioneer the future of eco-friendly urban mobility through the application of technology.
The collaboration between London Met and eConnect Cars will develop a bespoke software application that will facilitate the large scale use of electric vehicles in a private hire operation without compromise on efficiency, customer service and driver experience.
"The project with eConnect is a great example of how our researchers apply their knowledge and innovation" says Professor Dominic Palmer-Brown, Dean of the Faculty, "and in this case the software will be making an important contribution to a more eco-friendly London".
The partnership was established last year and London Met have now appointed Dr Michael Phillips a KTP Associate to develop the intelligent software application.
The project is scheduled for completion in September 2017, three years before the planned introduction of the ultra-low emission zone in London.
Project manager Professor Kazemian said “This is an exciting project to bring green energy into the chauffeur driven taxi industry”.
Developer Dr Michael Phillips commented “I’m looking forward to being involved in this exciting development project to help efficiently manage eConnect Cars’ impressive fleet of electric vehicles and make London a more eco-friendly city”.
