A Personal Mobility Assistant based on Ambient Intelligence to Promote Sustainable Travel Choices

An increasing amount of attention is being paid by local public administrations, national and federal governments as well as by international institutions, such as the European Commission, to improve personal mobility within urban environments through the use of public transports. Improving mobility of people through increased use of public transportation has a number of advantages since it is strategic to reduce energy consumption, to lower emissions and pollution levels, to improve public safety, and to dramatically reduce congestions and road traffic. Reducing private transportation clearly bring significant benefits not only to citizens’ quality of life and public health but it also results in a more efficient urban system as a whole, with consequent substantial economic benefits at the wider societal level. Based on this assumption, this paper presents a so-called personal mobility assistant, i.e. a software for smartphones and tablets which promotes use of public transport by helping user identify the best travel option across a multi-modal transport network, through a user-friendly interface that intelligently adjusts to user preferences and to contextual information