March 1, 2019
Bosch hosted a “Curbside Management Ideation Event” at Carnegie Mellon University. Over 25 students signed up to participate.
The event kicked off at 8:30 am with “Welcome’s and Introductions” by Sylvia Vogt from Carnegie Bosch Institute and Oliver Steinig, VP Business Development and Corporate Strategy Americas at Robert Bosc. Karina Ricks, Director of Mobility and Infrastructure from the City of Pittsburgh then shared with the participants the importance of curbside management and Pittsburgh’s specific challenges:
- Geographically challenged roadway network with congested, narrow avenues
- Congestion compounded by transit stops, parallel parking, and commuter traffic
- Competition amongst various modes and users for curb space
- Lack of universal value for curb access and allocation
- Lack of real time curbside utilization rates
The students were assigned to one of four teams. And after the teams received their instructions on how to conceptualize solutions to Pittsburgh mobility challenges by leveraging Bosch strengths in Video as Sensor, the students quickly got started. An observation from the VP Business Development and Corporate Strategy Americas at Bosch, Oliver Steinig was how diligently the students worked, even choosing to eat lunch with their teams to continue working on their curbside management ideas.
At the end of the day, the students’ hard work paid off. Each team presented solutions that combined Bosch sensors, sensible technology and pragmatic policy changes.
Mobility21 and Metro21 helped promote the event and engage students and were on hand for the day’s activities.
The Curbside Ideation event is an example of how industry, government, and academia can come together to create real solutions to real world problems.