Urban.MASS announces collaboration with SEMP for the system engineering phase of Floc / Duo Rail

London, 15th December 2023 – In a significant step towards the deployment of zero-emission mass transit, leading tech mobility firm, Urban.MASS has announced its collaboration with respected engineering partner, SEMP to define the system and service design for Floc® Duo Rail™. The two organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring their combined expertise to the planning, risk reduction and deployment of the innovative autonomous system.

As part of the scope of the collaboration, SEMP will define a multi-stage design process and draw on industry-leading expertise in transit infrastructure to capture key design and service delivery principles. These will underpin a baseline Concept of Operations and a hierarchy of design requirement specifications for each strategic component. These critical programme design inputs will be adopted by each of Urban.MASS’ strategic partners and suppliers to realise a coherent end-to-end design for pods of various types as well as the modular overhead track, delivering capacity for both passengers and cargo, designing for efficient through-life maintenance, and enabling a safe, efficient and resilient operation.

The scope will not only cover the physical assets, but also the definition of the service itself, ensuring connectivity with other modes such as mass transit and surface-based shared shuttles. In future, subject to agreement, the collaboration could be extended to delivery models.

The autonomous Floc® Duo Rail™ transit system aims to enable transport operators to deliver high quality urban passenger and cargo services at lower cost and with a lower carbon footprint than comparable guided solutions. The system’s ability to operate in some of the world’s densest urban settings, as part of integrated transport systems, depends on a robust understanding of these sociotechnical systems holistically and demonstration of compliance with the toughest regulatory regimes and safety standards. These are the environments in which SEMP has its sole focus; the team will use highly structured and auditable systems engineering processes to reduce the key risks that are evident in delivering new build infrastructure projects anywhere globally.

“The whole Urban.MASS team is delighted to be partnering with SEMP. Their contribution to the design and delivery process will achieve a critical step in enabling the acceleration of our Floc® Duo Rail™ system. Their expertise in mitigating infrastructure risk through compliance and systems engineering is world class, and brings the deployment of zero-emission mass transit in our cities significantly closer.” Co-founder, Ricky Sandhu.

“We’re excited to partner with Urban.Mass to support development of the innovative Floc® Duo Rail™ system and their mission to deliver zero emission, accessible and affordable mass transit solutions. Through applying our transit systems engineering expertise, together with our digital platform for infrastructure systems engineering, we will enable Urban.Mass to demonstrate a robust operations and service delivery concept, mitigate risk and deliver a safe, resilient, operationally ready and compliant transit system.” Stuart Gilbey, Executive Director, SEMP.