London 2050: ‘digital twins’ to keep transport moving

<p>This week’s been a tale of woe for Londoners trying to go about our daily business - those Tube strikes left more people cramming on buses, trying our best to keep calm and carry on.&nbsp;</p><p>As the summers temperatures rise, there’s more industrial action on the horizon - but how about the future?</p><p>In 2050, the population’s is predicted to have risen by well over a million people.&nbsp;</p><p>So how will the road and TfL’s Tube and rail networks cope, and how is planning for freak events, such as pandemics, undertaken?</p><p>It’s not all flying taxis - although that could be part of the solution.</p><p>The answer begins with your “digital twin” making up a “synthetic population” of Londoners zipping around a computer doing virtual tasks and errands - just like humans would.&nbsp;</p><p>The Leader’s joined by Dr Aruna Sivakumar, a reader in consumer demand modelling and urban systems at Imperial College London’s Centre for Transport Studies.</p><p>Dr Sivakumar’s also director of the Urban Systems Lab, and is a research expert on smart cities of the future.</p><p>We break down why “microsimulation” mapping is critical to stop the capital grinding to a halt in the future, discuss grid demand from electric vehicles and flying taxis.</p><p>You can hear us discuss the controversial per-mile charging and whether the capital’s olde worlde streets are fit for purpose in the second half of the 21st Century.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>