UrbanThings to develop social distancing tech

UrbanThings has been awarded funding to develop social distancing technology. The money comes from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and will see the transport technology company fast-track the development of innovations that will help society and businesses return to near-normal.

The UrbanThings solution is a social distancing and contact tracing platform for public transport. It is vital to ensure that the nation’s transportation systems can continue to function following the pandemic, and this presents a challenge for operators who need to ensure that the required social distancing measures are met. The solution allows public transportation networks to enforce adequate social distancing by capturing and sharing vehicle occupancy data, and then feeding it back to the operators and their passengers. The system will integrate with external sources of passenger boarding data, such as smartcard tap-in data. As the solution is account-based, it also has the potential to integrate with emerging contract tracing applications. The aim is to provide safer travel for passengers, and for transport operators to have the data required to enforce social distancing measures by adjusting their fleet capacity to meet demand.

Carl Partridge, CEO at UrbanThings, said “We’re delighted to have been awarded this grant from Innovate UK. With the nation slowly returning to work, we will begin to see the number of passengers using public transport steadily increase. This poses a huge challenge. Our technology will help operators manage their fleets based on demand, making it easier for them to ensure social distancing on their vehicles.”