Public Lecture: Experiments of Electric Vehicles, AI and Robotics in Urban Logistics and Transportation

This session will introduce the vision behind Future Mobility Finland which aims to reform the Finnish transport sector and to promote export-driven growth in the sector through ecological, cost-effective, and socially sustainable solutions. Smart Mobility and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concepts will be explored, and the different approaches to urban distribution and routing will be investigated. Various pilot projects, and their results, undertaken at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland, will be discussed. These projects range from testing electric vehicles and bikes, autonomous vehicles, drones and robots for last-mile deliveries and human transportation. The possibilities, limitations and feasibility of these projects will be discussed.

About the Speaker:
Ms Kaija Haapasalo, M.Sc. (Econ.), is the Head of Master Degree Programmes in Procurement and Public Procurement at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management and Logistics at Metropolia. Prior to taking up a role in academia, Kaija spent more than a decade working in a global chemical manufacturing company in various positions related to logistics, supply chain and operations management and procurement. Kaija is an active member of the Smart Mobility and Clean and Sustainable Solutions Innovation Hubs at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. From 2017 – 2022 she managed the EU-funded “Last Mile” research project which piloted digital and sustainable mobility solutions in the Helsinki metropolitan area.