- Partners include industry leaders such as Hyundai, Intel, Liberty Mutual and Toyota
- Ferrovial began collaborating with Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007 through the MIT Industrial Liaison Project (ILP).
Ferrovial has joined the MIT Mobility Initiative (MMI), a project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that seeks to respond to the challenges of mobility by providing a sustainable, safe and inclusive transportation system. Ferrovial is one of the first partners in this initiative, in which the company steps up its commitment to research and innovation projects to transform cities and develop the infrastructures of the future. These objectives, set out in Ferrovial’s Horizon 24 Plan, pursue innovative and sustainable transport infrastructure and mobility solutions.
“The MIT Mobility Initiative is the perfect forum in which to share Ferrovial’s knowledge while enabling us to learn from other industry experts and technologists about building a sustainable future for mobility in which infrastructure will play a crucial role,” said Dimitris Bountolos, Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Ferrovial, on the occasion of signing the agreement; other partners include industry leaders such as Hyundai, Intel, Liberty Mutual and Toyota.
MMI is a collaboration between the School of Engineering and the School of Architecture + Planning and is designed as a platform to connect all of MIT’s mobility and transportation activities. The goal is to integrate the institution’s research, education and entrepreneurship efforts related to transportation systems.
“Mobility is undergoing a profound transformation driven by new technologies such as autonomous vehicles, electrification and artificial intelligence, coupled with priorities and goals such as decarbonization, public health and social justice,” said Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Fifteen years working together
This new cooperation comes on top of the company’s existing agreement with MIT, which was renewed last year and comprises two programs focused on the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP). Under that agreement, Ferrovial will allocate USD 5 million to research at MIT into clean energies and sustainable infrastructure.
The company joined the ILP in 2007 and the MITEI in 2011. Ferrovial’s partnership with MITEI has resulted in projects in areas such as energy-related technologies for construction, software automation to identify energy service opportunities, the use of seawater desalination by-products, and sustainable urban mobility.
Ferrovial is a member of MITEI’s Future of Energy Systems Center to understand and address the energy transition through multi-sectoral analysis of emerging technologies, policy and economics. This collaboration is a continuation of its membership in the Mobility Systems Center and the multidisciplinary research initiated as part of the Mobility of the Future study. The company’s participation in the study’s consortium of members helped advance understanding of the different factors that are shaping personal mobility at different scales, from global and national markets to policies and mobility choices at the city and individual level. The study’s report, Insights into Future Mobility, was published in 2019 and has been a resource for industry and government stakeholders as they address the challenges and opportunities of the future.
