BANKOK, THAILAND - We are witnessing a revolution in mobility – in the mobility of people, of goods and things – and it is for one reason – connectivity, said Carsten Mossback from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as he launched a debate on connecting, integrating and commercializing transportation in a smarter world on the third day of ITU Telecom World 2013.
“Whereas owning a car used to be important,” argued Mossback, “Sharing vehicles and transportation is becoming more common place because people have a platform – a phone – that connects them to the world.”
Connected mobility enables efficiency and effectiveness in transportation, road safety and serves to reduce carbon footprint. It also forges completely new business models, over-the-top of traditional industry participants, whether manufacturers, financial services, technology vendors and of course communications carriers, added Mossback.
We are already using smart mobility in our daily lives. Technology means you can pre-plan your trip so you get to your destination on time as well as search out the cheapest options for travel, said Geraldine Kor, Head of APAC Marketing at HERE Singapore.
However, the negative impact of growing cities continues and car manufacturers are also trying to address the problems of congestion. “We are using probing technology to get fresh real time traffic information to give customers faster routes and real time traffic conditions,” said Masao Fukushima, Technical Consultant at Nissan Motor Company.
Electric and hybrid vehicles are part of the evolution of smart transportation, helping to reduce carbon emissions. However, uptake is slow, especially in Asia. “Generation Y don’t like to own,” said Ridzuan Yusof, Head of the Electric Vehicle Project at Proton, Malaysia. “To own is to maintain and incur liability.” However, smart connectivity could help address this problem by enabling a pay-as-you-go service, allowing people to use their mobile phones to book a car at the train station which, as an extra incentive, could also provide priority parking in the city, said Yusof. Nonetheless, he added, users are still worried about running out of power and getting stuck in the middle of town, and in cities like Kuala Lumpar, drivers rely heavily on aircon which takes 50 percent of energy of electric vehicles.
Data is at the heart of smart mobility but simply access to maps isn’t enough, data needs contextualizing and of course not everyone is driving. As well as looking at providing information on bus stations, train times and subways, Nokia is building indoor maps of shopping malls and airports, whilst at the same time depending on community crowd sourcing for further mapping. “People are very passionate about building their own city,” said Kor.
We are always asking how we get to the last mile, she added. So often people waste time or get lost looking for a parking space. If people have that data available in their handset already would make sure they to the right space with ease.
Personal devices are also set to become more integrated with in-car information systems. Rather than spending three thousand dollars on a state of the art information system for their car, drivers may well prefer to acquire smartphone apps unique to the car environment or that connect to an automotive cloud with specific services.
Panellists all agreed that one of the key obstacles to smart mobility and cars is distraction. A key conundrum facing smart mobility is how to provide information in a way that doesn’t compromise safety.
As we begin to see the production of new 4G and LTE cars what role do carriers play in cars, asked Rossbach. Carriers certainly play a big role still, said Kor, but the value chain is long. If you buy that car, you either already have a relationship with a preferred carrier and if you have that car you make sure you will be connected.
Government needs to take the lead and pull all the resources together so that people have confidence in smart mobility and start realizing the convenience, surmised Yusof.
