The future of mobility
Mobility plays a key role in our imagination of the future. The way people and goods move is going to change – and the pace of change is going to accelerate, possibly even more due to the current pandemic. Although, the speed of change remains difficult to predict, remember that in the sixties people expected us to already use flying cars in our cities by now.
Changing customer and social demands are facilitating the change in mobility. Connected and autonomous vehicles, platforms and a changing mobility ecosystem will inevitably emerge, fueled by increased digitization, transformation of the mobility landscape and driven by technological trends, such as electrification. As a global community, we need smarter types of mobility to anticipate these changes. With increasing congestion, inefficiency, accidents and high prices for mobility around the world, a future that offers convenient, safe and economic mobility, with much lower health and environmental impact, has to become a new standard for all to aspire to.
This edition dives into the various changes that we are currently observing, addressing short-term and long-term effects and implications, including:
- Incumbents, new entrants and startups that compete for a share of the mobility ecosystem and should therefore offer more than ”the obvious” in their strategic and digital agendas
- Municipalities investigating and experimenting with digital technologies to improve livability, accessibility and the environmental footprint of their smart city.
- Leasing companies that seem to have strong assets to navigate successfully through an industry in motion. Our interviews with the top-10 leasing companies reveal that COVID-19 accelerated their current strategy of becoming a mobility service provider rather than prolonging or reconsidering it.
- Government interest in new forms of road user charging (also called ‘road pricing’), which will also impact the tax system, just like electric vehicles.
- Electrification of mobility which goes hand in hand with the necessary transition towards renewable energy. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in specific segments could be an important piece of the puzzle.
- Automotive companies that make considerable progress in the development of self-driving cars – will they hit the public roads any time soon?
- Safety, a primary concern for any mobility system. How does the increasing digitization, electrification and connectivity of mobility influence the relationship between safety and (cyber) security?
- The implementation of self-driving vehicles that feels as a ‘cat and mouse’ game between innovation and legislation. Gaining insight into the Dutch Vehicle Authority on the journey to legal admission of autonomous vehicles and the driving license for vehicle software in the Netherlands.
- Self-driving cars, or autonomous vehicles, as the main solution to reduce congestion, traffic accidents and greenhouse gas emissions, versus a technology that may result in job losses.
This edition is not only relevant for the providers of mobility; key stakeholders such as municipalities, governments and clear believers and adopters of new technologies also benefit from our newest insights. “Let’s move towards an innovative and sustainable future of mobility!”
Paul Kromhout – Director, sector lead for Leasing
Stijn de Groen – Associate director, lead for Mobility 2030
Ronald Koorn – Partner, editor-in-chief
