IT Link had the chance to participate in the third Global Sustainable Mobility Summit Movin'on.

Created by Michelin, this Montreal-based event is often referred to as the “Davos of Mobility”. From 4 to 6 June 2019, it brought together players in the sector from all over the world.

The announced objective is ambitious: draw the outlines of green, intelligent, inclusive and sustainable mobility. On the agenda for the 5,000 participants: conferences, experiences, workshops and innovations of all kinds, ranging from solar bikes to Hyperloop, including autonomous and 100% electric trash collection trucks.

“It's about defining our future in 30 years. When 2 out of 3 inhabitants will live in cities, what mobility do we want for the future?” — Florent Menegaux, new president of Michelin.

(Re) building trust in autonomous vehicles

In the same way as electromobility, the autonomous vehicle promises to be the spearhead of the transport revolution. But how does it fit into a sustainable mobility approach?

It is easy to imagine the contribution of autonomous vehicles to the driving comfort of users. But they also open up very real environmental and societal perspectives.

It is estimated that autonomous vehicles should have a positive impact on congestion in urban centers. They should also increase the attractiveness of public transport. By making them more accessible, they can make it possible to open up certain rural areas. Consider the fact that 50% of car trips in the city are less than 3 km and 15% within 500m. Autonomous vehicles can therefore play a role in so-called “last-mile” journeys. The progress brought by this autonomous technology also promises more inclusive mobility. In particular, it can promote the mobility of seniors or people with reduced mobility.

In May 2018, the French government affirmed its desire to put the first autonomous vehicles in categories 3 and 4 into circulation as early as 2021 (with a steering wheel still present). More generally, from Europe to the United States, via Asia, the wishes of the authorities all converge on a launch at the beginning of the next decade.

Beyond the commitment of governments to change legislation, and the desire of manufacturers to accelerate the movement, major questions remain and suggest an uncertain outcome to this great technological boom.

The main question lies in the ability of the autonomous vehicle to gain the trust of users. Indeed, while the autonomous car resonates with us as a futuristic fantasy and stirs our curiosity, the accidents that have occurred in recent months during the experimental phases raise doubts about the reliability of the technology. These concerns also contribute to the reappearance of the phantom of the worst nightmare for adult humans: responsibility.

Thus, according to Kris Carter, co-president of MONUM (Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston), it is currently impossible to say when the first 100% autonomous vehicles should appear in his city.

All the experts present on the forum also converge on the idea that autonomous vehicles should initially concern public transport... while maintaining the presence of a driver on board, mainly to reassure users.

“Let's not forget that it took us nearly 3 decades to accept the fact that our elevators work without anyone at the controls”, laughs Pierre Schaeffer, Marketing Director at Thalès.

The prospect of making public transport a precursor sector in autonomous vehicles poses another crucial question. Is there a real customer base for autonomous cars?

Beyond the debates, and even if the prospects are still unclear, the quest for autonomous vehicles has remained the main provider of innovations in the automotive industry since the beginning of the century, especially in terms of safety. Cruise control, parking assistance, blind spot or white line detectors... all these technologies have been developed with a view to the advent of the autonomous vehicle.

Moreover, without waiting for the introduction of autonomous vehicles, we can already consider that connected and intelligent vehicles, made safer by technological advances, reducing accidents on the roads, are a great step towards sustainable mobility.

Connecting urban mobility to make it more inclusive

“What we need to strive for, through the mobility revolution, is a mobility system that is open to everyone in society”, Caroline Parot, CEO of Europcar Mobility Group.

Innovation creates use, of course. But it now appears that the key to changing mentalities, in a society where individuality still prevails, lies in our ability to provide a common solution. To do this, we need to make the offer more readable and interconnected.

Since the beginning of the decade, we have been witnessing the beginnings of this revolution in major cities. Carsharing, alternative transport, soft mobility or even the development of multimodal exchange hubs... projects and innovations abound in our cities. But the next step lies in our ability to standardize, streamline and make this offer accessible to all. Ultimately, the objective is to encourage the abandonment of the personal car in favor of clean modes of travel. And to achieve this, all actors must be able to agree and act together.

Thus, the real challenge of this ongoing revolution is to manage to erase the borders between modes of travel. With the help of digital technology, players in the sector must succeed in offering an uninterrupted transport experience (“seamless experience”), in order to decompartmentalize mobility and guarantee access for all.

Data and Artificial Intelligence to convince

Sustainable mobility is a common challenge. It echoes the environmental and energy crises that our society has been involved in since the end of the last century.

Today, the awareness of this reality and of the need to act seems to have made its way. But on a daily basis, it always comes up against the reluctance to make the changes that genuine commitment would require.

Safer vehicles, capable of regulating urban traffic, struggle to find their place in the hearts of users. The plethora of cleaner and more inclusive mobility solutions, the multiplicity of actors reinforces the feeling of confusion... The projects are innumerable and divide opinion.

According to Caroline Parot (Europcar Mobility Group), “you can't change mentalities simply with projects... you have to convince and do it with data”. Indeed, the outcome of this entire revolution seems to depend on his ability to convince and motivate a common response.

In the aisles of Movin'On, as at CES, the word comes up on everyone's lips: “data”. So far, nothing very original. What changes is the way it is used, the meaning that is given to it. Data did not appear as a bargaining chip, with market value, as we can often see in “tech” circles, but rather as a means of convincing.

Based on a sufficient quantity of relevant (and anonymous) data, collected from a fleet of sensors, and then relying on artificial intelligence and machine learning capacity, we are now in a position to predict the impact of projects on the environment, on urban traffic, even on our uses.

Data therefore makes it possible to provide proof of the relevance and effectiveness of projects and new modes of transport. In this way, mobility actors will be able to influence the way they travel and promote the adoption by the public of modes of transport that are more environmentally friendly, safe and sober.

These three days within the Movin'On ecosystem allowed us to immerse ourselves in the trends and aspirations of a mobility sector in full mutation and in search of meaning. But above all, this experience reinforced our conviction that digital technology and connected systems will be the keystone of a transition, which is necessarily rapid, in the ways we design and consume mobility.

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