How is the world of mobility is changing and what challenges lay ahead for carsharing? We reviewed Monocle’s recent video entitled Future of Travel, involving the developments in shared mobility as well as single-pilot planes and slow travel. Here’s what we found.
Rapid changes to the automotive industry
The automotive industry hasn’t undergone such rapid changes that technological developments of the past few decades have forced other industries to, as well as our lifestyles as a whole.
Modern mobility demands have changed rapidly. One of the biggest shifts we are seeing in auto right now is the latest generations growing up and questioning the need for a vehicle. No longer do we see cars being synonymous with freedom as it did 20 years ago.
We are going to be seeing a lot less single occupancy vehicles, and a lot more ridesharing.
Ford’s Acquisition of Chariot
One of the most forward thinking car-makers is Ford, who recently acquired the San Francisco based ridesharing company, Chariot. This carmaker is becoming much more than just a carmaker, and preparing themselves for the future they know is ahead of us.
Having acquired this dynamic shuttle company, Ford represents its forward-thinking attitude in becoming a mobility provider long in advance.
Aviation Innovation
In the aviation sector, innovation naturally takes much longer to implement due to the high costs, time-consuming nature to produce, and regulations involved. A new aircraft can take anywhere from 6 to 8 years to develop.
In the future, we see more of a need to focus on sustainability; CSeries at Bombardier focuses on having a much lesser carbon footprint than standard aircrafts. Moving forward, we should expect to see much quieter aircrafts, more integration with software, and the steady movement towards removing one of the pilots from the aircraft. The first officer could be ground-based, allowing the control of more than just one aircraft at a time.
Technological developments will revolutionize the travel experience as a whole, including the security process, which will make the air-travel process much quicker and more comfortable.
slower movement is more sustainable
Because slower speed is more sustainable for our planet, we may see slower movement changing our transportation systems in the future, where we agree to take more time to get to where we need to go.
In Japan, Seven Stars in Kyushu railway transports passengers leisurely around Kyushu for a more immersive experience. The journey itself is the point of this higher-luxury form of travel, bringing sleeper trains back to its roots, allowing people to connect and enjoy the ride.
With all of these rapid changes, we see how technology can benefit our ways of getting from A to B, but perhaps we may put less need on the speed in the future, and more on the experience. We highly recommend checking out this film here.
