There are so many changes coming to the way that we move ourselves about urban and suburban settings, that the implications of these proposed changes are just now being estimated.
As the methods for transporting ourselves around to work, for pleasure, and for urgency, get impacted by these new methods of transportation, these impacts will have a profound ’cause and effect’ implication to other ancillary industries that support and service the core transportation industry.
Over the next decade, we expect to see the advent of numerous new means of transportation, including but not limited to: autonomous vehicles, ride sharing, bicycles and scooter sharing, hyper-loop, next generation aviation, personal intelligent autonomous aircraft, UAV delivery services, and flying cars, and these platforms are all emerging dramatically and fast. The next ten years will forever modify the means with which we move around.
We have to use the state of cities today as the starting point. The UN predicts that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Given the problems we already have with transport, one can only imagine what things will be like in the near future.
Four major issues emerge, all of which can be solved by reimagining what was previously deemed possible.
Speed: America’s rush-hour commuters waste 42 hours a year on average. Congestion is crippling our productivity.
Access: Reasonable access to high-quality, fairly priced transport options is not enjoyed by all, resulting in multi-hour commutes and a negative impact on every part of people’s livelihoods.
Economics of owning a car: Individual cars are utilized roughly 4% of the time. The expense required to maintain, insure and drive a car – not to mention the physical infrastructure of parking garages and driveways – makes for an untenable economic reality. We are nearing the time where it will be financially irrational to own and drive your own car.
Last mile: The last-mile issue has plagued many cities: it’s simple to get into most cities, but navigating the last mile to your destination can be fairly tricky. If you live in an urban area, you’ve probably asked yourself more than once how you can get from closest public transport station to your final stop.
The advent of the smartphone over the last decade has ushered in the opportunity and capability to connect the dots across technology and physical transportation. With a press of a button a car can pick you up, and in the near future, that car may not even have a driver, and within 10 years that car will probably have wings.
With so many different incoming technologies, the already-growing transit sector is set to see massive expansion and is guaranteed to impact not only immediate industries such as travel, delivery and defence, but also every other orbiting vertical. Take litigation as an example: with the emergence of driverless cars, the legalities and liabilities of traffic will likely change, especially considering that 94% of current accidents are caused by human error. The healthcare industry is set to lose $500 billion a year thanks to the safety functions built into autonomous vehicles. Even the public sector will have to make significant adjustments as most police departments in major cities dedicate 80% of their resources to traffic control.
Because these advancements have cross-industry impact, it is critical that organizations of all backgrounds and specialties get involved in shaping this new world. If we want to make the most of these revolutionary innovations, then we need to start having cross-industry discussions about the future of transit. No matter where you sit in the value chain, you need to be collaborating, and collectively we need a framework to respond. While there are many unknowns regarding the future of transportation, one thing is certain: it’s going to affect us all.
References:
This story is a mash up with the majority of the content extracted directly from:
Ziegler, B. (2018). From hyperloop to flying cars: are these technologies the future of transport? World Economic Forum. Retrieved on September 16, 2018 from, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/from-hyperloop-to-ridesharing-time-to-get-on-board-with-the-future-of-transit
About the Author:
Michael Martin has more than 35 years of experience in systems design for broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless and digital communications technologies.
He is a Senior Executive with IBM Canada’s GTS Network Services Group. Over the past 13 years with IBM, he has worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He was previously a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin currently serves on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and previously served on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V).
He serves as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees, in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has diplomas and certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology.