The mobility of the future lies in the digitization of all transport systems: Big Data, 5G, artificial intelligence and comprehensive networking increase safety, improve efficiency and reduce environmental pollution. In the future, mobility will increasingly be a combination of shared mobility, automation and electrification. The resulting mobility concepts will set profound transformation processes in motion: cities will become quieter. Air quality will get better. Private cars will become fewer (Road Diet). Green spaces are becoming more plentiful. Quality of life increases.

Megatrends

The majority of future transformation processes will certainly take place in cities and metropolises. The entirety of these technologies, concepts and processes driving change is summarised under the buzzword urban mobility.

What is meant by this is that the challenges of future mobility - e.g. traffic jams, lack of parking space, air and noise pollution, etc. - primarily affect urban centres. - primarily affect conurbations. 

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Connected mobility is an important part of future mobility. Intelligent networks, constant data exchange and full digitisation of all road traffic will benefit transport and logistics on many levels. First and foremost, data-based solutions provide more efficiency and environmental protection.

Because connected mobility systems can avoid traffic jams, improve road safety, increase travel comfort and, last but not least, reduce pollutant emissions.

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Sustainable means of transport are known to be characterised by either low or zero emissions, but sustainable mobility concepts go one step further.

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4 Megatrends for the City of the Future

The flexible use and combination of different means of transport (keyword: multimodal mobility) is being tested and implemented especially in cities and metropolises.

Mobility Hub

Mobility Hubs serve as transfer stations to switch between different modes of transport – e.g. car sharing, hailriding, public transport, rental bikes, e-scooters and many more. – as easily as possible. Mobility hubs are therefore considered to be the key to implementing multimodal mobility.

New Mobility

New Mobility is a collective term that summarises many innovations around the topic of urban mobility – e.g. concepts about smart parking, micromobility, car sharing, ride-hailing and many more. The ultimate goal is to conserve resources and increase efficiency.

Smart Mobility

Smart Mobility is an important component of New Mobility. Through the intelligent networking of different modes of transport, the concepts of smart mobility are intended to contribute to making mobility possible that is safer, cleaner and more efficient – ideally without provate transport.

Mobility as a Service

MaaS is closely linked to multimodal mobility, as the service provided puts the user at the centre. The ultimate goal is to provide mobility services tailored to the individual needs of city dwellers - e.g. through a central smartphone app.

Challenges for future mobility


In a transitional period from the "fossil to the post-fossil age", mobility will be of particular importance in the future. Many of the challenges facing cities and urban centers today can be overcome through transport planning and new mobility concepts.

The greatest challenges of future mobility are:

  • More and more people are moving into cities.

  • Traffic volumes, congestion and accidents are increasing.
  • Cities are becoming increasingly noisy.
  • Air quality and green spaces are decreasing.
  • Unattractive public transport services are driving up private car use.
  • Low efficiency and high environmental pollution reduce the quality of life.
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Good to know: The biggest challenge will be to make new (as well as old) means of transport as attractive and universally available as possible, so that road users can travel at least as flexibly and as quickly as they currently do by car.

Mobility of the future: goals

The value of new technologies and alternative means of transport can only be derived from user acceptance. Studies show that bans (often) do less good than incentives to set real change in motion. The future of mobility is therefore a joint task that society, politics and business must tackle together. 

The goals of future mobility concepts leave no doubt about this:

  • Alternative fuels for sustainable (as CO₂-free as possible) mobility.

  • Comprehensive charging infrastructure for cars, public transport & logistics.

  • Digitisation of the transport infrastructure.

  • Networking of all road users.

  • Real-time traffic data incl. interfaces to traffic apps (Mobility on Demand).

  • Attractive sharing services, public transport systems and ride-hailing services.

  • Reduction of individual traffic with simultaneous increase in transport quotas.

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Good to know: Achieving these goals requires a fundamental transformation. For example, in the future, public and private transport providers will have to cooperate more closely and share their traffic data with each other. Because the more anonymised data is available, the better predictions and decisions traffic planners can make.

6 Mobility concepts of the future

Mobility of the future will therefore be more than just getting from A to B. Travelling will become an experience as cities successively expand both the offer and the attractiveness within and between all modes of transport. Multimodal (or intermodal) concepts form the backbone of the urban ecosystem and set new standards. 

Want to see some examples? We would be happy to present a few mobility concepts to you.

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What does multimodal mobility mean? Ideally, multimodal transport systems offer the same flexibility and availability as a private car. For example, a city dweller is multimodal when she steps outside her front door, rides her bike to the underground, then takes the underground to her place of work and the last few metres to the office on an e-scooter. The use of several means of transport for one journey is also called intermodal mobility.

Conclusion: Mobility of the future

Mobility of the future still has a long way to go, but many technologies and concepts are already in the starting blocks or are already available. It is not possible to explicitly predict how exactly we will get around in 30 or 50 years

But the following assumptions are likely to decisively shape mobility in the future:

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Alternative propulsion systems, parking facilities and means of transport will lead to cars becoming less and less of a feature of our city centres.

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Data will pave the way for reducing private car use without sacrificing availability and flexibility.

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Mobility is increasingly becoming a service to society. It will thus focus on the individual needs of the inhabitants (keyword: Mobility on Demand).

Last but not least: In the future, everyone will have the option of automatic and flexible mobility. Always ready for action, always safe, day and night. We will get there step by step. Each new level of this development brings more time, more safety and more environmental protection.

FAQs
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Coconea
SWARCO Innovation Manager

Contact Laura to learn more about SWARCO's activities in future mobility.

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