Bringing together VINCI Autoroutes, Ecov, Nokia Bell Labs, Actemium Paris Transport, Mobility ITS and Cerema, the TRAPEZE project is a winner of the “Automated road mobility, connected and low-carbon service infrastructures” call for projects as part of the fourth Investments for the Future programme (PIA4) – France 2030.  

This three-year project aims to develop an optimised shared mobility beta service, featuring a carpooling route, the use of a special, limited-access high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, and a solution for connecting users. The system will then be tested in real conditions and on existing infrastructure.  

TRAPEZE fully aligns with the objectives set by the France 2030 programme to “develop sustainable, sovereign and resilient mobility” and with the national strategy to accelerate the transition to “decarbonised and digitised mobility”.  

A mobility system to transform the use of roads  

In France, 85% of personal travel is by vehicle, and the modal share of road transportation will remain predominant for the decades to come, according to forecast scenarios in France’s National Low Carbon Strategy. To lower the carbon emissions of the mobility sector (which account for almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide), road use must be decarbonised.  

With the aim of proposing an environmentally responsible mobility system that is both economically and socially sustainable, TRAPEZE plans to optimise how people in France use two essential assets of transportation: first, the country’s road and motorway infrastructure, and second, the vehicles that use the infrastructure. 

For this purpose, TRAPEZE focuses on two levers: improving vehicle occupancy rates (combating single occupancy vehicle use and its negative externalities) and improving traffic flow and regulation. Discover the video to watch how the project works: 

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Suitable for deployment in many regions, this innovative project meets several objectives:  

• Combat single occupancy vehicle use; 
• Create a new range of low-cost local transport services that are accessible to anyone, especially users who currently have no other option than to use their personal vehicle due to the lack of an alternative public transport solution; 
• Develop efficient and accepted special HOV lanes to promote the virtuous use of road and motorway infrastructure; 
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other negative externalities associated with single occupancy vehicle use (congestion, pollution). 

TRAPEZE: service and technological innovations 

The TRAPEZE project features the following innovations: 

• a network of intersecting carpooling routes with connections to existing road and rail public transport networks, to encourage the development of shared mobility and intermodality in rural, peri-urban and densely populated areas; 
• on the most heavily congested roads and motorways, a smart 2.0 lane reserved for specific categories of users, based on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) criteria defined by the regions. To optimise this special 2.0 lane in a way that benefits users, two types of restrictions apply: 

• limited-access to optimise fill rates and traffic flow, 
• in-lane control to regulate traffic conditions and guarantee minimum journey times. 

An innovative mobility system that brings together six partners 

The TRAPEZE consortium is leading this project by drawing on the following areas of expertise: 

• VINCI Autoroutes is a motorway concession holder committed to the ecological transition of motorway infrastructure. As such, it supports the decarbonisation of road transport by developing new, more collective, inclusive and low-carbon uses. In connection with TRAPEZE, VINCI Autoroutes operates the A86 Duplex, where some of the project features will be tested; 
• Ecov is an impact startup that turns cars into public transport, inventing, rolling out and operating high-frequency carpooling routes in peri-urban and rural areas, in the form of an innovative shared public service; 
• Nokia Bell Labs, a trusted partner for critical networks, committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed and cloud networks; 
• VINCI Energies, through its companies Actemium Paris Transport and Mobility ITS, is convinced that the challenge of climate change is a source of opportunities to collectively reinvent itself, while supporting its clients through their energy transition. These specialised companies develop future solutions for transport infrastructure and low-carbon mobility; 
• Cerema, a French public agency under the authority of the French Ministry of the Ecological Transition, brings its mobility expertise and methodological resources, specifically in dedicated lanes and acceptance. 

The results achieved with this project, especially from the experiments in real traffic conditions, will contribute to the common good around road transport issues.