woman holding children

Future of mobility: Looking ahead to 2030

Think about how you currently move around from place to place – how you get to work, or to meetings, or to day care or to get your groceries. What’s good about your mobility and what isn’t? Now think ahead to 2030. How is everything changed so you are able to move better, more cost-effectively, safer, quicker and in an environmentally-friendly way?

As a company always focused on mobility solutions, we continuously ask ourselves – and others – what mobility will look like in the future, and what role cities and companies will play in shaping this future. Individuals have differing opinions on what mobility means for them and how it impacts their daily lives. With urbanisation set to grow with and technology to drive continuous transformation, the palette of mobility solutions and individuals’ attitudes toward them will continue to change.

Car is king

Although it seemed farfetched 27 years ago when Marty McFly rode a hoverboard in the film Back to the Future, we have since seen a significant number of innovative developments in personal mobility. Will we finally see teleportation or cities investing in Segway lanes?  It’s difficult to predict the future, but one thing seems certain: figuratively speaking, cars aren’t going anywhere.

What we expect to see in the next 5-to-10 years across the globe and channels is a continued demand for the use of vehicles. Estimates are that there are about 1.2 billion cars now and there will be around 2 billion by 2035. This will be spurred on by a combination of developments, including population and job growth, innovation and technology that will make cars safer, greener and more cost-effective, and new types of individual-focused solutions that will make cars easier to access than ever before.

Mobility solutions based on individuals

More than ever, non-drivers (individuals who are/were not driving vehicles) are finding it easier to access cars. For example, Uber has grown almost 40-fold over the last four years and new ridesharing companies like GoMore allow individuals easy access to cars to get them to work, home or elsewhere. We are also convinced it is only a matter of time before driverless cars will become a ‘popular’ reality. With leading companies like Google and Tesla driving industry developments in this space, driverless cars are on their way. According to our research, seven out of 10 drivers say they would ride in a driverless car. Non-drivers will continue to see an uptake in options to access vehicles as and when they need them.

And drivers? Drivers are already able to customise cars they buy to fit all of their personal preferences – from colour to seat height to accessories. Through car sharing solutions, private leasing, and an expanded used car market, drivers are also now able to access cars whenever they need it – from hours, to days, to months, to years. Vehicles will get better usage, spurred by car sharing and entrepreneurial car renting, and in the age of data we will be able to analyse car usage to make driving safer and greener.

With an increase in the number of vehicles, especially in urban areas, however comes an increase in issues that impact the globe – infrastructure, road congestion and carbon emissions, among others. In the UK, it has been calculated that road congestion will cost the British economy more than £300 billion over the next 16 years. Latin American carbon emissions from transport – mostly cars – are predicted to grow threefold by 2030.

Collaboration needed to become future proof

Question is, how do we, as a society, consider and address these potential issues and threats? Governments and cities are keen to show that they’re ready to embrace innovation and technology in what we might call the smart cities race. Stakeholders will have to work together to provide solutions that keep all needs addressed. This means alongside government, auto manufacturers and other stakeholders, organisations and individuals will have to play their part in helping this transformation take shape.

Organisations are given the difficult task of optimising their company’s spend on vehicle mobility and maximising vehicle utilisation, with providing employees bespoke solutions that address their mobility needs. How they develop their mobility solutions to employees alongside current technological trends will be critical.

Individuals are the focus. Mobility means different things to them, and everyone will have to work together to ensure they are provided with the best possible solutions to get them where they need to go.

 

Read more…