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Indian Express
07-08-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Toyota Mobility Foundation picks 5 finalists for $3 million challenge to improve crowd management in Varanasi
The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) on Thursday, August 7, announced five finalists for its $3 million Sustainable Cities Challenge. The initiative is aimed at improving crowd management in Varanasi's historic city, Kashi. The foundation will award each of the finalists $130,000 in funding to steer their innovative solution that has been designed to improve safety and accessibility for millions of residents and pilgrims. The challenge has been created in partnership with the Varanasi Municipal Corporation, Challenge Works, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). It aims to address critical crowd flow issues through the narrow lanes of the city. The shortlisted solutions showcase a combination of technologies such as AI, big data, and real-time navigation with human-centred urban design. Three of the finalists are from India, while the remaining two are from the US and the Netherlands. From the Indian entries, VOGIC AI introduced the Behtar-Way platform that offers real-time, hyperlocal pedestrian navigation and crowd intelligence for city officials; Premeya Consulting (India) introduced the Nayichaal system that integrates signage, an AI chatbot, and a mobility dashboard to create a safer pedestrian experience; and The Urbanizer showcased Jan Jatra solutions that combine community-driven wayfinding and tactical urbanism to guide pilgrims and visitors. Meanwhile, Arcadis from the Netherlands showed SANKALP, which uses real-time data, mobile tech, and simulations to shift from reactive to proactive crowd management. On the other hand, from the US presented the CityFlow platform that uses generative AI and big data to monitor and manage crowds without additional hardware. Talking about the challenge, TMF's executive program director, Pras Ganesh, said, 'We're excited to see these solutions brought to life, not only to improve movement in Kashi but also to serve as a benchmark for other heritage cities worldwide.' 'These solutions aim to enhance safety and preserve the cultural and spiritual fabric of the city,' said Akshat Verma, Municipal Commissioner and CEO of the Varanasi Smart City project. Verma said that the initiative sets a global benchmark for balancing tradition and innovation. Meanwhile, Avinash Dubedi from WRI added, 'This is about more than congestion; it's about enabling dignified movement for all, including those with special needs.' TMF's Sustainable Cities Challenge is a three-year global initiative that is supporting urban mobility transformation in Varanasi, Detroit, and Venice. Final winners in each city will receive further funding in 2026 to scale their solutions. The $3 million is distributed as $50,000 for 10 semi-finalists to work on their early ideas, $130,000 for five finalists to build working solutions, and three winners will share $1.5 million to implement the best solutions in the city.
The Hindu
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Hindu
Winners of STAMP innovation challenge announced
The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), and the Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA), in collaboration with Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) and WRI India, have announced the winners of the Station Access and Mobility Program's (STAMP) innovation challenge. The winners, selected from a pool of 32 applications, are CommuteVerse, Nippon Koei, Orbit Wallet, and Tummoc. They will receive a combined grant of $100,000 to demonstrate their solutions. Pilot demonstrations are set to be rolled out in August 2025 in and around Electronics City. The initiative attempts to leverage behavioural science and technology to help public agencies lower emissions, reduce traffic congestion, and encourage commuters to shift from personal vehicles to shared and sustainable modes of transport. Developing mobility interventions The broader STAMP initiative was launched in 2016 by Toyota Mobility Foundation and WRI India to promote better multimodal integration with the metro. The innovation challenge, as part of the broader initiative, was launched on April 11, 2025, inviting startups, technology firms, and solution providers to co-develop scalable mobility interventions that can increase metro ridership, especially in last-mile segments. It focused on solutions incorporating gamification (offering rewards and incentives for choosing low-carbon commuting options), real-time nudges (deploying contextual, time-sensitive messaging to promote shared and efficient mobility) and inclusive access (improving first- and last-mile connectivity, affordability, and safety using commuter-centric behavioural cues.) 'In this iteration of STAMP, we aim to demonstrate how behavioural science can be seamlessly integrated into transport planning to create practical commuter-first solutions that are sustainable,' said Pras Ganesh, Executive Program Director, Toyota Mobility Foundation Asia. 'Through this challenge, we have seen innovative ideas that can encourage community focused decision-making, and are excited to see these solutions piloted in a real-world setting which sets the stage for replication across Bengaluru and thereafter in other cities,' he added. Winners CommuteVerse BLR is a mobile-based platform designed to create a gamified commuting experience by aligning individual behaviour, employer participation, and transit system feedback, while Tummoc offers features that allow users to discover, plan, and pay for daily commutes involving buses, metro systems, suburban trains, and last-mile services through a single platform. Orbit Wallet integrates transit, payments, and access services into a single card and mobile application. Nippon Koei Business Partners Co., Ltd. (Singapore Branch), part of ID&E Holdings, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, collaborates with regional mobility platforms on road safety initiatives and has developed a 'Healthy City Framework.' Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow, Integrated Transport and Road Safety, WRI India, noted that the challenge offered a data-driven, locally relevant, and scalable model for effective public-private collaboration . The finalists will receive tailored tools for pilot design, business model development and stakeholder engagement, access to mentors, experts, and government stakeholders, and financial support for prototype development and implementation.
