With the launch of the new Mobility DesAIgn Lab, TNO, TU Delft, Leiden University, municipalities, and companies are exploring how AI can be used responsibly in complex mobility challenges. Digital twins have long been used to explore policy options, but according to researcher Erwin Walraven, the field is changing rapidly.
“The issues have become broader. You’re no longer talking only about parking or mobility hubs, but about complete spatial decisions. At that point, it becomes almost impossible to determine on your own which scenarios you should calculate.”
AI can support policymakers by exploring alternative designs or providing insights that would otherwise remain unnoticed. But this requires careful consideration.
“You want to avoid a system unintentionally disadvantaging certain neighborhoods, or designers losing control,” Walraven says. “That’s why it’s important to bring together technology, practice, and public values.”
The Mobility Design Lab was created to do exactly that: not just to look at what AI can technically do, but to examine how to use it responsibly in a real city with real residents.
The lab brings together model builders, urban planners, legal experts, municipalities, companies, and researchers. The focus is not on developing new algorithms, but on questions such as:
Amsterdam serves as an important practice partner. “Amsterdam is a complex city, with extensive data and experience with digital twins. That helps us enormously in testing real challenges.”
Over the next three years, the lab will work on concrete themes such as mobility hubs, parking, charging, and traffic management. Digital twins will primarily be used as conversational tools: clear, visual, and inviting for exploring scenarios together.
“AI should assist, not decide,” Walraven emphasizes. “The goal is to make trade-offs visible, not to say: you must build this.”
Residents will be involved mainly through sessions where they can discuss effects in their neighborhood. In the longer term, the lab aims to explore how such tools can become more accessible to the public.
The Mobility Design Lab starts from a solid foundation but is explicitly intended as a growing ecosystem. “Anyone who sees opportunities is welcome to join,” Walraven says.
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