Imagine every type of transport — trucks, trains, ships, even drones — each managed by separate control rooms that never talk to each other. When a highway closes, the trains don't know, the port doesn't adjust, and cargo sits waiting. ORCHESTRA built a shared architecture and practical toolkits so these separate systems can finally coordinate in real time, tested in two real-world labs covering freight in Norway and urban mobility in Italy. Think of it like giving all transport modes a common language and a shared playbook for when things go wrong.
Transport operators today manage road, rail, water, and air traffic in separate silos — when disruptions happen on one mode, the others don't adapt, causing cascading delays and wasted capacity. There is no shared coordination layer that lets different transport authorities and operators synchronize across modes and across urban-rural boundaries. This costs the logistics and mobility industry billions in inefficiency, especially as connected and automated vehicles add new complexity.
ORCHESTRA delivered a Polycentric Multimodal Architecture (PMA) — a coordination blueprint for connecting traffic management across road, rail, water, and air. This was supported by an Enabling toolkit, a Deployment toolkit, and documented lessons learned. Everything was validated through 2 Living Labs: a freight-focused pilot in Norway and a passenger mobility pilot in Italy, with 26 total deliverables produced.
If you are a logistics company moving goods across road, rail, and sea — this project developed a Polycentric Multimodal Architecture and deployment toolkit that lets you coordinate across 4 transport modes in real time. The Norwegian Living Lab validated this specifically for freight orchestration. With 17 partners across 6 countries contributing, the tools account for real cross-border complexity.
If you are a city transport authority struggling to synchronize buses, trams, ride-shares, and cycling networks — this project built and tested coordination tools in the Italian Living Lab focused on people mobility. The enabling toolkit and deployment guidelines help you integrate connected and automated vehicles into existing traffic management without replacing your current systems.
If you are a port operator dealing with congestion because incoming ships, outbound trucks, and rail connections operate on disconnected schedules — ORCHESTRA's architecture bridges these silos across road, rail, water, and air. The project validated coordination across all 4 modes with 9 industry partners, giving you tested integration patterns rather than theory.
The project produced open toolkits (Enabling toolkit and Deployment toolkit) under an EU Research and Innovation Action, so the core outputs are publicly accessible. Implementation costs would depend on your existing infrastructure and integration complexity. Contact the consortium for licensing or support arrangements.
Yes — the project was designed for exactly that. It was validated across 6 countries with 17 partners covering both urban and rural contexts. The Polycentric Multimodal Architecture specifically addresses governance across jurisdictions and organizational boundaries.
As an EU-funded RIA project, results are typically owned by the consortium partners who created them. The coordinator ITS Norge (Norway) can direct you to the right partner for licensing specific tools. Based on available project data, the toolkits were designed for broad uptake.
Yes — support for connected and automated vehicles and vessels (CAVs) was a core design requirement. The architecture and toolkits were built to accommodate CAV integration into multimodal traffic management across all 4 transport modes.
Field-tested. The project ran 2 Living Labs over 3 years: one in Norway for freight logistics and one in Italy for urban passenger mobility. These included real system deployments, pilot scenarios, and simulation-enhanced evaluations with documented lessons learned.
The project addressed governance and organizational aspects as part of its Polycentric Multimodal Architecture. It was funded under the EU Horizon 2020 transport topic MG-2-11-2020, aligning with European multimodal transport policy goals. Specific regulatory compliance details should be confirmed with the consortium.
The ORCHESTRA consortium has a strong industry orientation with 9 out of 17 partners (53%) coming from industry, complemented by 2 universities and 1 research organization. The 6-country spread across CH, DE, FR, IT, NL, and NO covers key European transport corridors. The coordinator ITS Norge is a Norwegian SME specializing in intelligent transport systems, which signals practical deployment focus rather than purely academic ambition. With 3 SMEs in the mix, the consortium balances large-scale infrastructure expertise with agile technology providers. The 26 deliverables and 2 Living Labs demonstrate substantial output for potential adopters.
ITS Norge (ITS Norway) — Norwegian intelligent transport systems association, the project coordinator and an SME
Want to explore how ORCHESTRA's multimodal coordination tools could work for your transport operations? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the right consortium partner for your use case.
