Urban mobility: What does the future hold?

The most important arguments why there is a need for fewer private cars in cities are:

• Up to 40 per cent of traffic in cities is spent looking for a parking space.

• According to studies, one car-sharing car can replace between 8 and 20 cars.

• If less parking space is needed, more green spaces can be created.

• Fewer cars on the streets mean more space for pedestrians and cyclists.

Regardless of whether the urban mobility of the future relies on electromobility, hydrogen, solar technology or hybrid drives: experts (largely) agree that we are in a transitional period from the "fossil to the post-fossil age". There are good reasons for this:

• All internal combustion engines together cause around 30 % of all CO₂ emissions within the EU.

• Private car traffic alone accounts for 60% of these emissions.

• Low-CO₂ fuels will therefore contribute to meeting CO₂ emission limits and other climate targets.

• Finally, electric motors and hybrid drives contribute to better air quality.

Autonomously driving vehicles will certainly shape urban mobility in the future, but the technology will not assert itself overnight. Rather, the path towards autonomous driving will proceed in several steps:

Step 1:   assisted driving (e.g. parking or lane assistants).
Step 2:  partially automated driving (hand remains on the handlebar)
Step 3:  highly automated driving (hands-free driving possible to a limited extent)
Step 4:  autonomous driving (vehicle drives itself)

The steps towards autonomous driving are closely interwoven with networking between vehicles (e.g. car-to-car communication). Here are two examples:

• Cars or lines of cars that brake and accelerate at the same time increase the flow of traffic.

• Vehicles driving ahead can warn other road users in real time - e.g. of obstacles, black ice, road works, etc. and thus minimise the risk of accidents.

In addition, networking between vehicles and traffic systems will also play an important role in the future, the so-called Car-to-X communication. What are the advantages if, for example, traffic lights and other traffic control systems are networked with the vehicles of a city?

• Traffic lights that respond to real-time data have been shown to reduce waiting times by up to 40 % and increase traffic flow by up to 60 %.

• Automated systems can monitor compliance with traffic rules (speeds, distances, etc.) much more efficiently and thus contribute to greater safety in urban road traffic.

If you can access the means of transport of your choice - e.g. rental car, e-scooter, e-bike, etc. – at any time, it will be easier for you to do without your car more often or even permanently. The key to success is: Mobility on demand. 

Ideally, this concept works like this:

• If all accessible means of transport are centrally linked and can be accessed via an app, you can simply book the vehicle that will get you from A to B the fastest.

• Central apps on the smartphone also make it possible for road users to share means of transport in a meaningful way (keyword: shared mobility).

Many city dwellers already use mobility services such as car sharing or ridehailing. The latter means booking rides on demand, e.g. via Uber. The market share of the ride-sharing market is still relatively small, but it still holds great potential in the future.

• As long as drivers control private vehicles, the profitability of ridehailing is rather low.

• However, as soon as such ridehailing services are offered by autonomously operating vehicles, this will significantly reduce the cost of travel per kilometre and thus attract many more customers.

• And there is something else that car-sharing or ride-hailing cars have over passenger cars: they do not have to park in city centres, but can be located where there is really space, e.g. in central car parks.

1. Autonomous Driving

2. Connectivity

3. Electrification

4. Shared Mobility