BRIEFING Requested by the AIDA committee F Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies Directorate-General for Internal Policies Authors: Devin DIRAN, Anne Fleur VAN VEENSTRA, Tjerk TIMAN, Paola TESTA and Maria KIROVA PE 662.937 - July 2021 EN Artificial Intelligence in smart cities and urban mobility How can Artificial Intelligence applications be used in urban mobility and smart cities and how can their deployment be facilitated Context and scope The briefing analyses beneficial AI applications for smart cities and urban mobility, focusing on relevant use cases and challenges faced by the public sector when it comes to the uptake and deployment of such AI solutions. The briefing aims at providing valuable information to the AIDA special Committee, in order to enrich ongoing discussions concerning the difficulties faced by municipalities to deploy fundamental KEY FINDINGS Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabling smart urban solutions brings multiple benefits, including more efficient energy, water and waste management, reduced pollution, noise and traffic congestions. Local authorities face relevant challenges undermining the digital transformation from the technological, social and regulatory standpoint, namely (i) technology and data availability and reliability, the dependency on third private parties and the lack of skills; (ii) ethical challenges for the unbiased use of AI; and (iii) the difficulty of regulating interdependent infrastructures and data, respectively. To overcome the identified challenges, the following actions are recommended: • EU-wide support for infrastructure and governance on digitalisation, including high performance computing, integrated circuits, CPUs and GPU’s, 5G, cloud services, Urban Data Platforms, enhancing efficiency and ensuring at the same time unbiased data collection. • Inclusion of urban AI in EU research programs addressing data exchange, communication networks and policy on mobility and energy, enhancing capacity building initiatives, also through test and experimentation facilities. • Harmonising AI related policies in the EU, taking into account the context specificity: necessary research. • Adoption of innovative procurement procedures, entailing requirements for technical and ethically responsible AI.