MARKETS
Transport The concept of a digital twin is not well-established in the transportation sector, which means that there is an opportunity to take the term and use it to drive progress in a well-defined set of areas.
ISABEL DEDRING Global Transport Leader Arup
GERARD CASEY Senior Consultant Arup
INTRODUCTION
POTENTIAL
What can digital twins bring to the transport sector? Perhaps the most promising idea is the ‘city digital twin’ — a realistic simulation of a city, including the transport network and population. The twin should accurately model changes with the passing of time, given initial conditions, while being reactive to changes and interventions, such as new transport services, new housing developments or changes to fares. Whereas a more familiar kind of digital twin at present might, for example, aid the delivery of a discrete piece of infrastructure, the city digital twin would have the greater scope of delivering broader social and transport outcomes. Furthermore, the city digital twin can be maintained, updated and extended — potentially remaining relevant for as long as the city is inhabited. That new models and new data will change how we operate is undoubtedly true; the question is, what role will digital twins play in this change?
A digital twin is a virtual model used to tighten the feedback loop between design and execution. As an industry with modelling at its core, this sounds familiar and reassuring language. But the historic context paints us a picture both challenging and exciting — on the one hand, we in the transportation sector deal with unique, boutique projects every time, which might suggest a preference for single-use modelling. But equally, we see trends and patterns repeating themselves time and again, making the prospect of reusable models highly valuable. This tension between boutique and more flexible modelling has effectively produced two polarised camps. The latter is typified by tech start-ups who claim to have ‘solved’ transport modelling for all cities using new data and new models, the latter by those in established quarters who maintain that ► 111
