Future of mobility — Scenario 2: Mobility-as-a-service paradigm

In this scenario, private and public organizations collaborate to build an open ecosystem so that seamlessly connected public and private transportation services displace private car ownership and different types of micromobility.

In mobility-as-a-service and automated mobility-as-a-service models, different modes of transportation and their combinations are highly personalized. Individual mobility configurations might include weekend rental cars, weekday bus tickets, or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) flights for the wealthy – specifically covering the types of transport needed in each individual use case. Packaging is based on different parameters and preferences, such as lifestyle, health and wellness choices.

Personalization goes beyond pricing models. In addition to vehicles designed for moving people around, urban areas are populated with purpose-built automated vehicles that provide services on wheels for people. People can hop in and out, and use services while traveling from location to location, reminiscent of past concepts like library buses, stores on wheels and restaurant cars on trains.

The mobility-as-a-service paradigm has been adopted in midsize and large cities with populations large enough to make services commercially viable. The success of these services also depends on local networks providing real-time access to purchasing subscriptions and providing ticketing systems. In a highly connected world, we may witness new collaborations and partnerships in areas that would benefit from shared ecosystems based on, for example, the needs of travelers. When people living in cities spend their time outdoors, non-terrestrial networks (e.g. satellites) come into play for all services outside the city centers. Since the emphasis is on shared mobility, private cars pay the city a fee to access the infrastructure.

In such a highly data-enabled scenario, there might no longer be a need to actively search for the best route – each individual service provider would have all the data at hand to offer the ideal way from A to B based on personal preferences, the individual use case and contextual information such as weather data. The result is a seamless and uninterrupted user experience without the need to find your way, buy a ticket or check the best connections.

In addition to pleasant travel experiences, this scenario offers different opportunities to overcome some of the most pressing challenges in mobility, ranging from congestion reduction to energy and emission savings, as well as improved utilization rates of vehicles and the corresponding reduction in the need of parking space.