Quantum Computing for Mobility: Exploring Use Cases Across Air, Road, Rail and Sea

We provide an overview of the project QCMobility within the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative. Here, we explore application problems in mobility which might benefit from the usage of quantum computers. The investigated use cases include strategic and tactical planning processes in air transport, optimization problems in demand-driven traffic in road transport, scheduling and monitoring processes in rail transport, lock and trajectory optimization in maritime transport, and optimization of multidimensional logistics networks in intermodal transport. In close collaboration with various DLR institutes and several contractors from industry, we aim at developing customized quantum algorithms and demonstration problems to implement them on quantum computing hardware. With a dedicated software framework, we combine use cases, optimization methods and their execution on quantum computers and simulators. The project results will be incorporated into the Quantum Computing and Mobility application roadmap.