What is Autonomy?
This year, on March 16th and 17th, Autonomy Paris was back for a in-person event after a two-year digital hiatus brought about due to the global pandemic. The trade show was back for its 7th edition in Paris and is the largest annual gathering dedicated to innovative and sustainable mobility solutions. It is organized around 8 sectoral themes:
- Active and Micromobility.
- Shared Mobility.
- MaaS, Ticketing and Payments.
- Smart City Services.
- Corporate Mobility and Fleet Management.
- E-Mobility and Infrastructure.
- Urban Logistics.
- AVs and Technologies.
The event takes place over the course of 2 days and allows partners, speakers, exhibitors and visitors to discover the latest industry trends and news, meet new suppliers and partners and attend expert conferences and check out some quality demonstrations.
This year, movmi’s Sandra Phillips attended (in person) for the first time since the pandemic. Here is a quick round-up of movmi’s time at Autonomy, Paris.
movmi at Autonomy Paris
Future Mobility Change Makers
Sandra Phillips, movmi’s Founder and CEO was invited to be guest speaker at this year’s Autonomy, Paris. Her presentation, ‘Future Mobility Change Makers’ focused on the the trajectory of our worldwide transportation systems, where it’s going and who is leading the chase. Some of our favourite moments from Sandra’s speech include:
The Inherent Problems with our Current Systems
Did you know that we subsidize cars like no other mode of transportation. Public transit costs society 1.5x as much as it costs you personally but driving costs society almost 11x as much! And then of course there is the environmental impact: In Canada 27% of all GHG emissions are due to personal transportation. And about 15k deaths happen because of health impacts of transportation (heart issues, lung cancer etc).
The Hummingbird – A Stubborn Change Maker
During her talk, Sandra retold the “The Flight of the Hummingbird.” It is a story that started with the Quechan people in Peru and moved North to Canada to Haida Gwai – a beautiful place in British Columbia. One day a fire broke out in the rainforest. All the animals ran out of the rain forest fearing for their lives, except for a little humming bird. It kept flying back and forth between the river and picked up one drop of water at a time. Then flew back to the fire and released it. All the other animals were wondering what the hell it was doing. The bear finally said to the hummingbird, “You’re crazy, you can’t put out this fire!” To which it replied, “I do what I can.”
The point of re-telling this story – in terms of transportation, in particular, shared mobility – is that change starts small, by someone who just doesn’t do what everyone else does, someone that has a different perspective than the others.
Panel of Mobility Change Makers
Sandra also brought a panel of change makers/hummingbirds with her to Autonomy, Paris and they included:
Sergio Avelleda, Founder of Urucuia, Brazil. He was the Secretary of Mobility and Transport in Sao Paolo where he spearheaded the city’s implementation of Vision Zero to reduce traffic fatalities. Before that we was the president of Sao Paulo Metropolitan company responsible transporting 4.5 million people on the subway.
Here is Sergio discussing how Sao Paulo is incorporating New Mobility into its transportation network. 👇
Susie Kahlich is the co-founder of Singe who was the winning company of this year’s EmpowerWism award. With a background in psychology, 20+ years of Ninjutsu self-defence training, and certifications in trauma support, she is focused on safety of women in all modes of transportation.
During Autonomy, Paris, Sandra also had a chance to check out Singe Networks booth for a demonstration of their self-defense digital safety cards! 💪
Natalia Tomyiama is the co-founder and CEO of Nüwiel where she combines her background in mechanical engineering with her MBA to the increasing challenge of dealing with urban logistics.
Perhaps you can each introduce your work and how you tackle changing transportation in your daily work.
Check out Nuwiel’s fabulous booth at Autonomy, Paris featuring their cargo e-bikes! 🚲
During her presentation, Sandra also showcased these messages from a few more mobility change makers in our network – many of which are applicants, finalists and winners from EmpowerWISM 2021 and 2022.
Conclusions
When we think about the impact that the pandemic has had on transportation, there are two opinions:
- It is ‘the big pause’ that made us re-evaluate our lives and re-focus it on quality of life
- It is the ‘big accelerator of urban change’.
What was it for you? What do you think is the biggest opportunity at the moment to change how we move around? What are the biggest roadblocks and what other change makers are needed to get passed them?
Events and trade shows like Autonomy, Paris are an essential way for us as leaders, operators and innovation to showcase our ideas and to network with likeminded people in order to effect real change within our transportation ecosystems.
