Cummins has unveiled a four-month pilot project in Indiana to evaluate an on-demand transit solution in partnership with Purdue University and Energy Systems Network (ESN) starting 30 September.
The collaborative experiment, known as Leaper X, includes a web-based mobile application powered by Cummins and a small trial fleet of campus shuttles in addition to Purdue’s traditional University buses.
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Using the app, individuals can self-select how, when and where they use Purdue’s campus transportation services.
“Cummins is using IoT and advanced analytics to transform experiences and deliver the right solutions at the right time for our customers,” said Cummins chairman and CEO, Tom Linebarger.
The piloting of the Leaper X platform helps advance what a recent ESN report, Emerging Mobility Technologies and Trends, says will be a new ‘Mobility-as-a-System’ landscape, where different modes, providers and usage models are synthesised to improve travel.
The pilot initiative will allow Cummins to test connected technologies and gather data. The insights collected from the Leaper X programme will help validate hypotheses for business and academic purposes and assess the impact smart technologies can have on reducing travel time, boosting availability of transportation services, expanding coverage, as well as streamlining commuting for multimode transit solutions.
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By GlobalDataDestinations on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus will allow commuters to initiate and manage transportation preferences using the Leaper X app. Once a ride is requested through the app and routed to a free Leaper X shuttle, users will be picked and dropped off within minutes.
In addition to on-demand ride requests, users can view traditional campus bus routes, enabling riders to compare options and make informed, real-time decisions on the best way to travel based on a range of information including waiting times, vehicle or destination proximity.
The project is led by Cummins’ Digital Accelerator, which functions as the company’s own tech start-up.
2019 marks 100- and 150-year anniversaries for Cummins and Purdue, respectively.
