Providing efficient and sustainable mobility solutions is a priority across the world. While extending the public transport offering and last-mile solutions is a necessity in many cities, numerous Europeans live outside dense urban areas and need to use private cars. Luxembourg is creating a “new mobility balance”, aimed at building a seamless travel experience by combining multiple means of transportation and leveraging the advantages and opportunities of each single element of the mobility value chain.
Embracing all smart mobility options
A major part of the growth in the mobility sector is expected to come from service sectors such as public transport, shared solutions and last-mile mobility. Luxembourg is the first country in the world to offer all public transport free of charge. It is also investing heavily in public transport, multimodal infrastructure and next generation decarbonised, smart mobility solutions.
Luxembourg’s “new mobility balance” includes both car ownership and a mix of public transport and shared last-mile solutions (Mobility as a Service). The focus is on improving interfaces between individual mobility (cars), public transport and shared last-mile solutions. The objective is to create a new customer experience based on the seamless and efficient use of multiple means of transport, leading to less congestion, less emissions and less investment in public road networks.
A launch pad for mobility innovation in Europe
The new mobility balance provides unique opportunities for mobility innovation to be tested and demonstrated in Luxembourg and deployed on the European continent. Located close – but not too close – to major French and German automotive development centres, Luxembourg provides direct access to the attractive German, French and Benelux sales markets.
The highly multilingual and multicultural population has the right cultural skills to support any company in doing business in the most attractive parts of Europe. Companies can also benefit from R&D partnerships and infrastructure to further develop their products, or adjust them to European legislation and customer habits.
A living lab for mobility innovation
Luxembourg offers many advantages for mobility innovation. Supporting data-driven innovation is a priority, and the country has a well-developed digital infrastructure with high-speed internet, 5G and easy access to the business-oriented national high performance computer. IT talent is notably provided by the University of Luxembourg, which ranks among the top 100 universities in the world for its research in computer science.
There are excellent opportunities to conduct R&D projects in a real-life environment and to set up research partnerships with centres such as the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER). There is also great potential for use-case partnerships with innovation-oriented public and semi-public stakeholders.
Attractive location for the automotive industry and for innovation
Globally active component suppliers such as Delphi, Goodyear, IEE, Webasto, ArcelorMittal and Cebi International are testimony to the many advantages of having European sales and R&D headquarters in Luxembourg. Goodyear’s recent investment of €77 million in a state-of-the-art production facility confirms the attractiveness of Luxembourg as a manufacturing location.
Luxembourg is part of an international automotive network consisting of over 300 automotive companies. It includes 7 large OEM manufacturing plants, production and R&D facilities of more than 20 global automotive suppliers, and 15 renowned research and technology organisations (RTOs) applicable to the automotive industry. Together, they create more than 220,000 highly qualified jobs.
This network extends over six regions in Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg. With a total population of 11.5 million, the Greater Region area unites the very best attributes and developments from Germany, France and the Benelux.
Luxembourg offers access to the cross-border digital testbed for autonomous and connected driving that connects 215 km of public motorways and roads in France, Germany and Luxembourg. The testbed includes multiple border crossings, tunnels, high-density traffic at peak times and much more including 5G connectivity. The AutoMobility Campus north of Luxembourg City is a science park of 140,000 m2 dedicated to sustainable mobility innovation, located close to the Goodyear Innovation Centre and its testing facilities. A business incubator for smart mobility companies is to open its doors shortly.
