Dell EMC and Nokia want to reduce traffic jams with smart city initiative

Dell EMC and Nokia have entered into a partnership to help Delft reduce congestion in the city centre. To this end, the companies are launching a smart city initiative. The intention is to allow people with semi-autonomous, hydrogen-powered barges to travel the last mile by water.

The public-private initiative is intended to reduce traffic in the city. At the same time, the companies can help the region to reduce CO2 emissions. Dell EMC and Nokia, together with Blue Turtle Associates, Aratos Systems, Circle Lines, City Hub, SPIE, the University of Delft and the regional government of the province of Zuid-Holland have carried out a trial to create a Common Information Space for Smart City Logistics.

Scalable digital platform

The Common Information Space acts as a scalable digital platform that connects the entire logistics chain in and around the city, as well as the backbone for the navigation system. This platform will be built using technology from Dell EMC and Nokia for compute, storage, data management, connectivity, analytics, IoT and blockchain.

It was immediately decided to use the waterways, because they are still underused in parts of the Netherlands. By using semi-autonomous and quiet inland navigation vessels, passenger and freight transport can be carried out via the rivers and canals. The ships will connect to a new type of mobility cloud from Nokia’s IMPACT IOT platform and the Dell EMC Digital City Accelerator. The companies integrate Ampelmann hydraulic gangway technology for loading and unloading. Tests will continue in 2019 with the aim of becoming fully operational by the end of next year.

Sustainable projects

The project concept is of interest to a number of industries that want to achieve logistics and sustainability objectives, including shipyards, parcel delivery, logistics distribution centres, mechanical engineering, offshore operators, catering and waste management. A number of goals have also been drawn up, which are hoped to be achieved with this.

For example, projects of this kind are intended to relieve the burden on the regional traffic infrastructure in the Rotterdam-Den Haag Metropolitan Area; contribute to the development of clean transport and quiet freight logistics, improve sustainability and improve the business climate. The project is part of a broader strategic alliance between Dell EMC and Nokia, which aims to stimulate digital transformation in a number of key industries.