In a plan being mooted by Stellenbosch University’s faculty of engineering, Stellenbosch is set to become the first transport-oriented “smart city” in South Africa.
The Stellenbosch Smart Mobility Laboratory (SSML) today announced a partnership with German firm PTV Group.
The two parties penned a memorandum of understanding to underpin their commitment to innovation in smart and sustainable mobility. The collaboration on this project is set to reduce congestion in the town of Stellenbosch.
This comes as most provinces across SA are prioritising their plans to build smart cities, where technology is at the centre of delivering services, ranging from traffic management, safety and security, to healthcare.
PVT specialises in software and consulting services for traffic and transportation, mobility and logistics.
In a statement, the university says the company will support research and development at the SSML with its software solutions.
“Another vision of the SSML is to make Stellenbosch the first transport-oriented ‘smart city’ in South Africa. The university and PTV are working closely together and with the Stellenbosch municipality on a project to coordinate traffic signals in the town in real-time, to reduce congestion,” says the university.
For this project, the SSML will use a “PTV transport model for testing and calibrating the adaptive traffic signal control systems in the town, which are also based on PTV software”.
“I’m very excited that we now have this arrangement with PTV Group," comments Dr Johann Andersen, associate professor of intelligent transportation systems at Stellenbosch University.
“Our students benefit from the software of the industry leader when learning, working and researching in the SSML. This enables them to do realistic transportation planning and makes them sought-after transportation planners and engineers on graduation.”
Christian Haas, CEO of PTV Group, adds: “Stellenbosch University and the PTV Group have maintained a close relationship for many years. I am pleased that we can now give this an official framework with the signing of the memorandum of understanding.
“Our joint project with the Stellenbosch Municipality shows how fruitful this partnership already is. Together we will empower cities in South Africa on their way to smart, sustainable mobility.”
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