Royal College of Art’s Intelligent Mobility Design Centre announced as research partner on groundbreaking INFUZE study

The groundbreaking INFUZE study (Inspiring Futures for Zero Carbon Mobility) will ask communities across the city of Leeds to help design bespoke mobility solutions, which could include car clubs, responsive taxi-style bus services and shared bicycle and scooter schemes.

The £7.8m plan is being led by the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, along with research partners the Royal College of Art and Lancaster University and is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

It will eventually involve up to 400 households across the city and could lead to the creation of a national centre of excellence in low carbon alternatives to car ownership.

There are more than 20 other partners in the project, including Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the bike and scooter sharing scheme Beryl, Enterprise Car Club and First Bus.

Transportation is the largest contributor of carbon emissions in the UK, accounting for 23%. In the UK alone, £57bn is spent annually on just owning, insuring and maintaining cars. Research shows however that they are on the move only 4% of the day and run 960 billion empty-seat miles every year. Being locked-in to individual car ownership is also a major contributor to the cost-of-living crisis.

A third of cars do not move on any given day. The INFUZE researchers believe that if privately owned vehicles disappeared from our streets and people adopted shared vehicles, there would be more room for pedestrians, cyclists, playing and accommodating the rise in home deliveries.

The INFUZE project is based on the premise that new technologies and shared transportation could keep people mobile with far less energy and carbon than individually owned cars. This could include bus transport on demand, tailoring the sizing of the mode of transport according to need, and powered light mobility options such as scooters or two-seater electric vehicles.

The INFUZE programme grant will be an international first in its mission to tackle the transition to low carbon travel options which can be delivered at scale. Leeds was chosen as a result of the City Council’s strategic aim to be a city where you do not need to own a car.