Logismile, the delivery driver of the future: the autonomous robot Ona tested in Barcelona

Co-Funded by EIT Urban Mobility and led by CARNET, the LogiSmile project aims to respond to the major challenge of last-mile urban distribution in increasingly congested cities. 

The metropolitan area of Barcelona and Esplugues de Llobregat hosted a test in a real urban environment of the autonomous goods distribution robot Ona last Friday, 10 June. Developed by CARNET and the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC), in the framework of the European project LogiSmile, the test was carried out in the Can Vidalet neighbourhood. Later, the Ona robot will travel to Hamburg (Germany) and Debrecen (Hungary).

The event was attended by the Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sanchez; the Mayoress of Esplugues de Llobregat, Pilar Diaz; the rector of the UPC, Daniel Crespo; the executive and scientific head of CARNET, Laia Pages; and the director of EIT Urban Mobility Innovation Hub South Daniel Serra, as well as different partners of the project.

For the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sanchez, “this is not science fiction today; it is what we will experience in our cities in the coming years.” 

The minister highlighted the importance for Esplugues of hosting this pilot project, the result of collaboration between public administrations, universities and companies, and a fundamental axis for achieving safe, digitalised mobility that respects the planet and people’s health. The autonomous vehicle is included in the objective of digitalisation and decarbonisation pursued by the Ministry. This process entails challenges already contemplated in the Sustainable Mobility Law, which will soon reach the Spanish congress.

“The future is here”, said the mayoress of Esplugues de Llobregat, Pilar Diaz, who highlighted that Ona “is an example of putting technology at the service of problem-solving, in this case for the distribution of last-mile goods”, while highlighting the “ecological and sustainable” aspect of the initiative.

This pilot demonstrates that future mobility in our cities is already a reality. The commitment of the Spanish government, the town of Esplugues de Llobregat and the Metropolitan area of Barcelona also proves that when the right actors work together, we can design the future of our cities. 

As facilitators of the project and founders of the largest European community transforming mobility, we are excited and honoured to see how the future is happening now. With our headquarters in Barcelona, EIT Urban Mobility emerges as the instrument of the European Union that enables the collaboration between the agents necessary to carry out this type of initiatives. In our common challenge for the decarbonisation of cities, the collaboration between public and private agents, companies, research centres and universities is essential for making the future a reality.

LogiSmile is a project led by CARNET and co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility. It is developed in collaboration with Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), Capgemini Engineering, DKV Debrecen Exclusive Transport Company Ltd. , Ajuntament d’Esplugues de Llobregat, ITS Hamburg 2021 GmbH, LMAD, NFF – Niederachsisches Forschungszentrum Fahrzeugtechnik, OtoStolik, PTV Group, Direccion General de Trafico, IRI – Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, and CDEI-UPC.