The city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, has developed its first integrated freight plan for the city centre. With a population of around 85 000, Umeå is the largest urban community in northern Sweden. Due to a fast-growing population and the boom of e-commerce, the city centre has been facing increasing traffic problems linked with the delivery of goods and services. A clear strategy for sustainable urban freight in the city centre was therefore essential.

Public transport provision is not a competence of Swedish municipalities. However, 73 % of the Swedish towns have set the objective of promoting public transport.

The CIVITAS ECCENTRIC project is holding a workshop from 17-18 September in Stockholm, Sweden, that will give participants insight into the innovative work being undertaken in its five project cities and advice on measure replication.

The Swedish and French governments have announced plans to collaborate on transport innovation, recognising "...that the fight against climate change and the shift towards a more sustainable and resilient economy is a major global challenge." The Swedish and French Ministers Tomas Eneroth and Elisabeth Borne agreed on roadmap for reinforcing collaboration between the two countries in June 2018 during a meeting in Gothenburg.

April and May 2018 saw the inauguration of two innovative pilot projects on the ‘electrification of roads’. Both could help support the transition to carbon neutral transport. While one project attempts to generate clean energy through a photovoltaic road surface, the other aims to provide electric power and recharge vehicles during their journey.

If Sweden wants to reach its climate targets for 2030, every third car must be removed from its major cities, according to the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket. A move to other modes of transport is also needed because of the large amounts of urban space that cars occupy when driving or when parked.

An autonomous bus is now available for the public to use, in a 4 week trial carried out at the Chalmers University of Technology campus in Gothenburg. The bus is available to the public between the main entrance of the University and the University's Library. 

The project, which is led by RISE, is part of the Swedish Government's ‘Next Generation Travel and Transport' programme and is partly funded by Vinnovo. It is the second project of its kind in Sweden this year, with driverless buses introduced in Stockholm in January.