Enabling intelligent fleet management and climate-friendly  driving in Danish municipalities

Through the government-funded AI project “Intelligent Fleet Management and Climate-Friendly Driving”, five Danish municipalities (headed by Syddjurs Municipality) are implementing AI to optimize the management of their public car fleets.

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK | NOVEMBER | 2022

The “Intelligent Fleet Management and Climate-Friendly Driving” project simulates the fleets’ driving and route data using a tool developed in collaboration between the municipalities and two Danish software companies, Qampo and Droids Agency. The solution runs on 2021.AI’s GRACE platform.

So far, the AI solution has been implemented in three municipalities: Syddjurs, Slagelse and Aarhus. In Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest municipality, results indicate that fleet size can be decreased by 15% without any loss of efficiency. Moreover, the simulation tool projects a 30%–70% reduction in carbon emissions (link), providing crucial support for Denmark’s ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Effectively implementing AI solutions with complete control and integrity

Using AI in the public sector requires adherence to numerous regulations, so Syddjurs Municipality and other participating municipalities have chosen to build and scale the “Intelligent Fleet Management” solution with 2021.AI’s AI Platform, GRACE.

With digital trace and comprehensive impact assessments, GRACE makes it easy to build policy-guided guardrails into the AI development process. This ensures regulatory compliance with national and international frameworks.

Moreover, GRACE is the first AI platform to offer comprehensive Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC) support for data- and AI-related operations. With a structured GRC approach to data-driven processes and applied AI, organizations can ensure that they achieve their identified objectives for implementing technology, have controls in place to address risks or uncertainty, and use technology with integrity.

In other words, GRACE enables Syddjurs Municipality to scale AI solutions for its own use and act as a model for other municipalities, pioneering the use of AI in the public sector.

“We are thrilled to be part of the project with Syddjurs Municipality. This partnership will allow us to extend our reach and help more public organizations harness the power of Artificial Intelligence. Together, we can make a difference by enabling the responsible use of AI technologies in the public sector,” says Mikael Munck, founder and CEO of 2021.AI.

Keeping data close to home

To comply with the Schrems II European data judgment, Syddjurs Municipality stores project data with Safespring, one of 2021.AI’s cloud-hosting partners. Based in Sweden, Safespring is part of the European GAIA-X initiative, which promotes self-sufficiency in data infrastructure based on European regulations.

Below is a graphical representation of how the project is structured. Safespring delivers the European cloud storage, Droids provides the web-based Simulation Tool, and GRACE ensures scalability, efficiency, and adherence to relevant guidelines, laws, and regulations.

“With the AI platform from 2021.AI, we are able to scale the project across several participating municipalities. The compliant infrastructure for data storage as well as the platform has been top of mind for the project, and we hope to contribute with crucial learnings to the ongoing work of expanding the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector,” says Henrik Bojsen, a Team Leader in Syddjurs Municipality.

The “Intelligent Fleet Management” project will have far-reaching impacts by providing solutions and case studies replicable in other municipalities. In this way, the GRACE AI Platform will facilitate the scaling of actionable, regulation-friendly AI solutions across Denmark.

About Syddjurs Municipality and the project

The employees of Syddjurs Municipality spend a collective 150,000 hours driving each year which corresponds to a significant source of carbon emissions (estimated to be more than 2,000 tons per year—link). The “Intelligent Fleet Management” solution will use AI to optimize fleet efficiency, reduce the total distance driven by the municipalities’ public fleets, and curtail CO2 emissions. The results will reduce resource costs and promote carbon neutrality. To learn more, visit: syddjurs.dk

About the project

The government-funded AI project “Intelligent Fleet Management and Climate-Friendly Driving,” in which the Simulation Tool has been developed, will run until and including December 2022. We encourage all municipalities to opt-in on the solution from January 2023 onwards.

You might also like…