More than 100 years later, we stand at the threshold of a new era in which fully autonomous vehicles may be plying the same roads as today’s human-driven personal vehicles and cargo transports. The future will look far different, with industry insiders predicting the widespread adoption of autonomous technologies in the next decade.
I am delighted to introduce issue number 1 of TaaS Technology magazine that is focused on the advent of transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) and the technologies, legislation and initiatives being undertaken to completely rework the ways in which people and goods are transported from one place to another.
TaaS Magazine is being launched by Angel Business Communications; it is the supporting title to the TaaS Technology Conference, organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick. TaaS Magazine will be a quarterly publication tracking the entire value chain and key topics surrounding TaaS, connected autonomous vehicles (CAV) and future mobility. The digital magazine, available on phone, tablet and PC, will deliver on its mission to inform readers about key progress being made worldwide in TaaS, CAV and future mobility.
Mobility as we know it today is on the verge of a revolution. Testament to this fact is the prevalence of CAV technology and discussions about future mobility at almost every major technology trade show and conference. The recent international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (US) dedicated a large swath of its floor space to robotic technology and ways in which automobiles are becoming more automated, leading to the ultimate goal: autonomous driving on-demand. CES, which took place in early January, was awash with announcements, collaborations and new technology demonstrations that were dedicated to enabling self-driving vehicles.
The market for private automobile ownership is likely headed for disruption. What are the technologies required for a future of shared, autonomous and connected vehicles? We will explore this in each TaaS Magazine edition.
A New Revolution Begins
Every revolution begins with a great deal of scepticism, just as the advent of automobiles in Germany more than a century ago was discounted by many before the reality of that future dawned, forever changing humanity. Today, humankind is at the brink of another revolution: the revolution of AD—automated driving. It won't happen overnight with a big bang. It will come in small steps, a revolution beginning with evolution. At first, intelligent on‐board technology will support drivers. Next, vehicles will learn to communicate with each other. Ultimately, the ‘brains’ of the vehicle itself will take over control, if the driver so wishes.
The era of the autonomous vehicle is here. According to industry estimates, by 2020 the autonomous vehicle market will be worth (USD) $87 billion. Furthermore, by 2040 it is predicted that four out of every 10 vehicles on the road will be autonomous. Autonomous vehicles will create new opportunities and an impetus for organisational innovation across a wide range of industries.
The autonomous cars/driverless cars market demand is expected to reach 138,089 units by 2024. Experts attribute this growth to a need for curbing the number of accidents caused by human error as roads are travelled by an ever-increasing number of vehicles. According to the International Organization for Road Accident Prevention, more than 90 percent of road accidents across the globe are caused primarily by human error. The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) estimated that the adoption of autonomous vehicles, also known as driverless vehicles, in the US alone could save more than 20,000 lives every year.
TAAS Magazine will provide complete coverage of the TaaS and CAV industry. To map out the landscape in full, each issue of the quarterly title will explore key topics covering, but not limited to: sensors, connectivity, data, software, safety, legislation, human machine interface (HMI), manufacturing, logistics, planning and evolution.
Thanks to the energy and expertise of our contributors, we’ve packed this debut edition with industry knowledge, starting with our cover story by Mukarram Bhaiji and Edwin Kemp of KPMG, discussing how long-established value chains are set to be radically disrupted in the future mobility ecosystem.
Reading on, there is much more to discover with contributions from Vision Mobility, Local Motors, HMI Technologies, UBER, BestMile, MaaS Alliance, Nokia, The TravelSpirit Foundation, BMW/2025AD, ALE, MaaS Global and Travelport. With a round-up of the latest news and also some fantastic videos to watch – we hope you enjoy this launch issue and we look forward to providing further feature content in the remaining 3 issues of the year. Make sure you register at www.taas.news so you can continue to enjoy TaaS Magazine.
Finally, don’t forget to add the dates for TaaS Technology Conference (9-10 July, Coventry, UK) to your conference calendar. The global community will join to discuss CAV technology and the future of mobility during the TaaS Technology Conference. With a maximum of 250 delegates and 20 exhibitors, make sure to book places early to avoid disappointment. To reserve your place and for full details about key themes shaping the conference, please visit – www.taas.technology
Mobility is critical for population hubs and economies to function and grow. From a consumer perspective, passengers want to get from A to B in an economical, convenient and safe manner. Concerns such as environmental and health impacts are also becoming increasingly important and subject to public policy scrutiny. In contrast, mobility systems today suffer from congestion, inefficiency, human-driven accidents and high prices, which leads to detrimental social and economic consequences.
We are now witnessing a real shift in consumer demands and the way they view mobility. For example, from an economic point of view consumers are transitioning from asset ownership to access, especially in urban areas. KPMG’s Global Automotive Executive Survey (2017) found that more than one in three consumers agreed that 50% of today’s car owners will no longer want to own their own car by 2025. Similarly, recent Department for Transport statistics show that the percentage of men in England aged 17-20 holding a full UK driver’s license has fallen from 51% in the mid-1990s to just 33% in 2016 (and from 81% to 68% for men aged 21-29). This can be partly attributed to the demand for convenience and the resultant emergence of on-demand private car hire firms such as Uber and Lyft, where at the click of a button a car will turn up in minutes. Then from a safety perspective, the emergence of AVs should enable new waves of untapped mobility demand from young people and seniors, offering safe independence where options were previously few.
Commercial goods carriers place similar demands on mobility systems – to be economical, safe, efficient and ‘green’. We are already starting to see this play out in HGV platooning trials, most notably in Europe and the US, where this technology is expected to cut operating costs substantially and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 10% (according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association). Meanwhile, digitally enabled connectivity has led to the emergence of digital freight brokerage companies that seek to address the inefficiency issue evident in the significant proportion of trucks that run empty in Europe and other continents.
The impact of all this will be dramatic. KPMG estimates that in the UK for example, total passenger miles travelled could increase by up to 10% between 2015 and 2030. This will largely arise from additional trips taken by the young and elderly in AVs, as well as greater access to on-demand mobility services providers. These vehicles will increasingly be owned by fleets and will be heavily utilised assets much in the same way taxis currently are, in contrast to the average passenger car which today stands idle 95% of the time. As a result, this could mean a decline in overall car sales by 2030.
That said, our view is that future mobility solutions, and especially AV and MaaS, will have a significant, positive impact on global economies. This will mainly arise from consumer time freed up (not having to drive), more efficient journeys contributing to greater labour productivity and flexibility, as well as the value from greater telco and ‘smart’ infrastructure demand and new digital and service sector revenue streams. Indeed, our 2015 analysis for the UK alone estimated the impact to be £51bn added to annual UK GDP by 2030 (or a c. 2.5% increase on current levels). Given the pace of change in the market, that figure is likely to be even higher now.
The growth in consumer spending power from time freed up and new possibilities whilst travelling, as well as the emergence of new vehicle technologies and the maturation of the supporting digital and physical infrastructure means that there will be an explosion in new value to be competed for.
The value derived from today’s personal car is fairly equally split between upstream (raw materials to finished vehicle) and downstream (all other parts of the value chain), with the customer self-aggregating services such as fuelling, insurance and service, maintenance and repair. Focusing on the downstream, we estimate that the revenues associated with a personally owned vehicle over a ten year period today would be approximately £30,000. By 2030, in an EV-AV-MaaS world, we estimate the downstream value could well be ten times as big as this, driven largely by new and incremental revenue streams enabled by the digital ecosystem.
Historically the transportation industry has operated along largely linear value chains. This explosion in value available will encourage previously disconnected sectors to converge on mobility, as it develops into a complex ecosystem of interconnected and interdependent value chains. As part of this, we expect to see a multitude of new entrants taking a share within the market, whilst there will also be unprecedented levels of partnership and collaboration as various players seek to design these new solutions.
We expect these forces to result in fundamental power shifts within value chains and the ecosystem. Incumbents and perhaps even entire sectors that have enjoyed years of strong, steady revenues and a good share of the value chain may be completely eliminated whilst opportunities for new services and thus new entrants will emerge. This will happen across sectors, meaning organisations will need to evaluate and redesign their financial, business and operating models including:
The above is not an exhaustive list but what is abundantly clear is that disruption will reverberate across a multitude of sectors and that roles in the future value chains and mobility ecosystem have yet to be decided. As incumbents, new entrants and start-ups compete for a share of the prize, each will have to consider where to play and how to win. Companies will have a small window of opportunity to get on the front foot, positioning themselves to shape the future ecosystem. Being a first mover, by securing beneficial partnerships, acquisition targets and structuring their internal financial, business and operating models to benefit from the new world, will be key. Those who don’t act risk being left behind.
At KPMG, we believe we are at the beginning of a truly transformational journey, with an accelerating pace of change. The strength of consumer demand, as well as the rate of change of technological development for vehicle electrification and automation is increasing exponentially. The disruption will be significant and it will come with both great opportunities and risks. We are excited to play a key advisory role in the journey ahead.
Mukarram is a Director in KPMG’s Global Strategy Group, specialising in growth and M&A strategy and is one of the leads for KPMG’s Mobility 2030 initiative in the UK. The Mobility 2030 initiative was set up by KPMG to look at how Electric, Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility as a Service will transform how people and goods move in the future. Mobility 2030 brings together leading players from across the mobility ecosystem to collaborate with each other to shape and succeed in this evolving ecosystem.
Edwin Kemp is an Associate Director in KPMG’s Global Strategy Group, working predominantly within KPMG’s Mobility 2030 practice. He has been with KPMG for 8 years, focusing mainly on automotive, industrial and consumer goods clients from a strategic growth and M&A perspective.
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
Unfortunately they did do something wrong, and it was a critical error. They failed to clearly identify and act in order to keep pace with changing technologies and consumer tastes. To quote Ziyad Jawabra; “The advantage you have yesterday, will be replaced by the trends of tomorrow."
It's far from the first time this has happened. Only a few years earlier, Kodak, the dominant player in camera film and photographic supplies was put out of business by the shift towards digital cameras. Ironically for them, not only did Kodak hold the most patents for digital camera technology, an internal corporate innovation team identified digital technology as a huge threat 10 years prior, yet management did nothing to pivot. All the while their much smaller competitor, Fujifilm, started producing desirable high end digital cameras which brought success and profitability.
It is this type industry shift that is now beginning to occur in Automotive. As the convergence of new technologies into a "CASE" platform (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric) occurs, people will be able to access their mobility cheaply through pay as you go systems. The combination of these technology and customer usage changes has forecast that cost per mile drops will be in the 80% range (Barclays, Columbia University), when going from owning a vehicle today to a shared autonomous electric vehicle. As the popularity of such autonomous car sharing services grow, many current industries and businesses associated with Automotive and car ownership will begin to dwindle and finally fail.
“The advantage you have yesterday, will be replaced by the trends of tomorrow."
In New Mobility, a customer will be able to call up a shared taxi-bot via an app or digital assistant and take them where they need to go as a passenger. While many companies associated with automotive and vehicle ownership may be able to continue to exist with a refined version of today's business model (notably some OEMs and Tier 1s), it is expected that significant consolidation will occur, with only the fittest surviving. However, many customer facing industries (ie dealers, insurance, accessory suppliers, etc) will begin to fail outright as demand drops as their goods and services are no longer required in the customer's new paradigm of mobility.
The process of the decline of these industries is called Disintermediation, and is very commonly associated with technological revolutions that offer customers new choices and options at a much lower price. For instance, to use the previous photographic analogy, film processing centres, once everywhere, are now few and far between, catering only to a small select group of enthusiasts. The film processing centres, and their suppliers, such as those that made film, photographic paper and chemicals, processing machines and processing operators; have now been almost completely disintermediated as consumers almost exclusively use digital cameras.
Disintermediation is very commonly associated with technological revolutions that offer customers new choices and options at a much lower price
As a case study, let's look at look at some current industries and occupations connected to automotive, examine their business model and give them a 'survivability' rating for 2030.
Right now there is a race for OEMs to prepare for New Mobility, with Autonomous vehicle development, key alliances instituted and an exploration of what post ownership at a retail level might look like. OEMs have huge legacy infrastructure tied up with their dealer networks, which is likely to become a huge burden. The current huge model proliferation will likely reduce significantly as people are much less likely to care what their transportation looks like in New Mobility. The other danger OEMs face is the break up of their tight and effective branding model as consumers low longer own nor drive, effectively cutting out a key ways to appeal to customers. It is quite likely that OEM New Mobility business will become a faceless production side to another brand, just as aircraft manufacturers are to airlines, and Foxxcon is to Apple - ie just a hardware provider in a software world.
Key thought: Manufacturer consolidation as model ranges and marketing consolidate for taxi-bots, plus pivot towards CASE vehicles and ground drones
2030 Survivability Rating: 2.5 stars
Tier 1/2 suppliers are utterly dependent on the fortunes of OEMs, however the product that is offered is key. Suppliers that make precision components for IC engines and transmissions (ie Linemar, Aisin, ZF) are particularly vulnerable as EVs grow significantly in popularity, but manufacturers who make batteries and entertainment systems will be extremely well positioned (Panasonic, LG Chem, Harmon). Software suppliers and developers of AI for automotive applications will also have a very bright future.
Key thought: Item dependent
2030 Survivability Rating: 1.5-5 stars
Right now the collision sector is already going through significant consolidation, particularly in Canada. Recent rises in distracted driving from smartphone usage has increased the number of accidents per million miles for the first time in 30 years, however as "Guardian Angel" technology becomes more common (Toyota are rolling out their Safety Sense system this model year) and later as Autonomous Vehicles roll out, the profits now enjoyed by large collision chains will be much smaller. As a President of large collision chain said to me, the long term future looks "very bleak".
Key thought: Consolidation followed by very significant disintermediation
2030 Survivability Rating: 1.5 stars
Dealerships will be a bad position as New Mobility begins to mature. EVs low need for maintenance will dramatically cut in to parts and service profits, Autonomous Vehicles inability to crash will reduce parts sales and the move to Mobility as a Service taxi-bot business model will mean there will be few profitable new car sales as most will be bought by fleets, and the upsell will be just a trick of long forgotten salesperson. To compound this, there has been almost no guidance from OEMs to date to show them what their place is in New Mobility, let alone how to survive and flourish. Luxury dealers will be less affected as it will become a status symbol to own a car, rather than use a taxi-bot service. Companies whose business is solely aimed at a dealer level (ie DMS and CRM providers) will also be significantly affacted by a large fall in private sales.
Key thought: Significant disintermediation at mainstream level, less so for prestige
2030 Survivability Rating: Mainstream 1.5 stars, Luxury 3 stars
Automotive Service Providers will be experience similar effects as dealers from reduction in vehicle service and maintenance volume from electric cars. However the aftermarket maybe better positioned than dealers to survive into New Mobility by acting as a low cost supplier to taxi-bot fleets (for charging, cleaning and maintenance), as their cost structure, particularly on a capital side is generally much lower than a typical (grandiose) dealership. However, just like is occuring in the collision sector now, significant consolidation towards large chains is likely.
Key thought: Pivot towards fleet maintenance of taxibots
2030 Survivability Rating: 2.5 stars
Depending on where their focus is, Automotive Accessory suppliers may or may not be disintermediated. The natural ability to upsell product at a dealership will be removed in New Mobility, but people will still have to take bikes and other equipment to different places and retro fitted electronics and upgrades for communication is a very good opportunity.
2030 Survivability Rating: 3 stars
As automotive makes up a very large percentage of the portfolio of any manufacturer, there will be a very significant impact when people choose to move towards Mobility as a Service. Some of this loss will be picked up by extra insurance required by OEMs and developers of autonomous vehicle systems and software, as well as fleet insurance; but it is highly likely that this will not come close to offsetting the premium loss. Those insurance companies specializing in automotive will likely be swallowed up by larger organisations.
Key thought: Pivot towards broad fleet / OEM insurance
2030 Survivability Rating: 2.5 stars
When New Mobility arrives, drivers will be at very high risk of disintermediation, and there will likely be a lot of cut backs. Drivers will need to broaden their skill sets in similar industries or enter new industries to retain employment.
Key thought: Heavily affected by disintermediation
2030 Survivability Rating: 1 star
Just like drivers, heavy disintermediation will occour for Parking and Traffic Police officers. However, generally speaking people in this line of work have been generally trained for other roles, so it is likely that they can be repurposed towards other work.
Key thought: Repurposed within police force
2030 Survivability Rating: 3 stars
As the vehicle car parc pivots towards EVs, Fuel stations will begin to see a reduction in demand. Often these are located on expensive corner land to attract customers, so as such the return for the investment will be significantly narrowed, and it is likely that the land will be repurposed towards a high value need. As most people can charge from home, or a taxi-bot fleet can charge at a warehouse, the impact of adding a charging station is limited in all but the busiest transportation corridors. The one saving grace may be adding hydrogen, but this will be very dependent on the development of vehicles for hydrogen, which at this stage has begun to take a backseat to EVs. Hydrogen suitability for long haul trucking may help transportation corridor fuel stations to survive and flourish.
Key thought: Prime land and charging infrastructure in buildings will force significant disintermediation
2030 Survivability Rating: 1-2.5 stars
Just like insurance companies, the automotive sector for personal finance is huge. And just like insurance, banks will have other areas to pivot towards, though they are likely less exposed. Even still there will be a huge loss of business as people switch from car loans and leases to Mobility as a Service, which will not require a finance model. There may be some opportunity to finance taxi-bot fleets, as well as invest in new technology surrounding New Mobility.
Key thought: Significant loss of consumer business only partly filled by fleet business
2030 Survivability Rating: 3 stars
Who would have thought 10 years ago that a company that specialized in disappearing messages will have a multi-billion IPO?
It is worth noting that overall it is the consumer that drives the process of change, not businesses. Customers desire useful new technology that value adds to their life and drives down expenses - even if they are employed by a company that is being disintermediated. The benefit to the consumer is what drives demand, and those in their way will usually fall. Take Uber, a company that despite riding roughshod over incumbant taxi providers and city laws, provided a cheaper, cleaner, more efficient service to their customers with less friction points. Customers demanded Uber and eventually most cities rewrote their bylaws to include them. Industry and technology change is thus very difficult to block if fuelled by customer demand.
The benefit to the consumer is what drives demand, and those in their way will usually fall.
The other significant benefit of a reduction in consumer spending on mobility is the new ability for customers to spend money on other areas that they benefit problem. It is this thought that could position business who rely on consumer discretionary spending to find and develop new opportunities away from automotive and transportation to succeed and prosper.
To summarize, it is imperative that companies who are in Automotive, or businesses that face onto automotive, understand New Mobility and take a careful look at how they will be impacted. Many sectors will face significant disintermediation as customers choose new and better ways of choosing their mobility. Identifying these threats now, and looking for opportunities to pivot into new growth sectors will be key to the survival of successful businesses.
Second Annual Mobility Study Webinar - Session 2
by James Carter (Vision Mobility), Dr Dave Fish (CuriosityCX)
One in Three said that they wouldn't own a car if they didn't have to was one of the surprising insights that James Carter, Principal Consultant of Vision Mobility and Dr. David Fish of Curiosity CX, found in the data of the First Annual Mobility Study conducted in late 2016.
Last year's study, which surveyed 1,000 people aged 18 and over across the United States, focused on how people viewed different aspects of their mobility at that time and what their key needs will be for the future. Topical insights into new dealership models, remote vehicle communication, and Uber-style personal package delivery services were also studied.
For the Second Annual Mobility Study, the study has received support from Michigan State University (MSU) underscoring the prominence of the study in the New Mobility world. Jason Switzer, a Masters of Science in Marketing Research candidate at Michigan State University, has assisted in the design, development, and preparation of the study as part of his research at MSU. "With support from MSU and Jason, we can now take the Second Annual Mobility Study to the next level in research for the New Mobility community," said James Carter of Vision Mobility.
Chris Kirby is the Automotive Director of Clarity, an Advertising Agency and Consultancy specializing in Automotive and hospitality verticals. Chris has more than 10 years of automotive financial and retail experience.
James will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018 and is also a member of the Program Board. "As one of the members of the TaaS Technology program advisory board, we've strived to attract top speakers and put together a very interesting and beneficial program to anyone in the New Mobility arena. I believe seeing breakthrough research and new ideas will be a catalyst to move forward in ensuring that our transportation future is affordable, safe, secure and environmentally responsible. For my part, I will be speaking on the future of mobility retail and how we transition from the current dealer based sales model to a transportation as a service retail model, and what the implications behind this change are.
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
Strategy, pillars and operations for autonomous driving fleet management business
We are quite aware that future business model for carmakers is mobility oriented more than car focused. All brands are moving to become miles/km providers, much bigger market than struggling selling cars to dealers and customers.
Weekly news support this future.. but the focus of this post is more about the business side. How to make money in this new shaping industry?
The convergence of electric and autonomous technologies, public regulations, tradeoff between public/private business, integration of fleet management, long-term and short-term rentals are disrupting multiple traditional businesses and shaping a completely new competitive arena where different industries want to play the game.
We see car makers directly moving to mobility (brand like Moia, Maven, IMotion, Moovel, Lynk&co just to mention few ones) or huge public transports operators (Deutsche-Bahn, Transdev, Keolis) extending their offer to ride-sharing pilots, or big rental companies embracing sharing mobility (corporate or privately based) and don’t forget new players often heavily backed (Zoox) or leading forefront giants like Uber or Waymo.
Quite a crowded arena, specially if we consider that none of those players really own the whole stack of services that future business will require. Even more if we understand that final stage of this change will be the coming popular definition “Mobility as a Service” clearly described in this picture by Sampo Hietanen, pioneer entrepreneur running his MaaS Global company.
Starting from here I outline some of the most important topics to be considered addressing this market based on assumptions that only few companies will have the resources (money, team, assets) to scale globally and we’ll probably see many providers acting locally followed by an increasing number of M&A.
Fleet Financing (leasing/rental) will be a core business because even if we think about the future.. we’ll still need someone to own and rent cars for mobility. At least until we’ll move in 3 dimensions instead of 2 and flying car will hit the road.. (actually the sky) of our cities.
Business operations: the business case includes a broad range of operations:
In the near future we’ll assist to
Assets management and revenue streams
I addressed in my previous point some of the relevant key topics to lead future mobility business cases. I move forward now to analyse which are the assets and the revenue streams of this new business model
Managing fleet of autonomous vehicles offers the unique opportunity to use a series of assets to increase the value of the business and develop multiple collateral business cases linked with the operations.
Each asset can be owned/acquired/leased/ to run the business case and create more revenues streams
Real estate
Storage and parking. Having access to storage hubs and parking infrastructures will be a key factors when we’ll have thousands of vehicles running.
Garages for car services. Traditional car dealers and services will shift their core business from privates or direct customers to fleet and an efficient and fast organisation will optimise the operations
Charging hubs (Renewable powered, smart grid, vehicle2grid applications). Grid balance in cities will be an issue and those players with direct access to infrastructures will be facilitated. Energy will be the new “oil” and its availability can be improved thanks to renewable power.
Big data
Among world top ten brands as per capitalisation (Amazon, Apple, Google,) and in mobility also (Uber) there are companies owning huge amount of data. Big data will be a mainstream revenue stream for those able to monetise and create value from that. Transport and mobility provide a relevant amount, coming from the following areas:
Fleet
Cars are not only the main asset for running the operations as there are multiple options to get value from the vehicle:
Financial asset. Financing the fleet allows to have interest gain
Second life Battery pack strategies (link to storage business model). The batteries of the vehicles can shift into a second life plan to re-market them at the end of the first lifecycle for storage and other utilisations.
Marketing. On purpose vehicles are a branding tool (as Moia just proved with their launch few days ago)
Commercial (promotion and re-marketing). Vehicles can generate more revenue once we move them into the re-marketing plan and second sales.
Entertainment
What shall we do during our trips in autonomous cars? Many operators are raising this questions and pay per use services (entertainment/business) to be developed for self driving cars seems to be a collateral area of interest. Whether we use our subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify and similar), I bet many services will be integrated directly in the cars.
If those are some of the assets to be leveraged in future mobility business, there is an complementary strategy to address which seems to be the big umbrella where including the whole stack of innovation: MaaS: mobility as a service. Once the volume of ridesharing trips will really shift our cities mobility patterns we have to expect that large corporations will aggregate vertical players to create the biggest platform to really go from A to B with one touch. Many are competing already around the world and capitalisations will drive the winning ones.
East regions (China, Malaysia, India) faces deregulated market where new mobility services (ride sharing/ride hailing) have established brands like DIDI (China) Grab (Malaysia) Careem (Middle east) OLA (india). Many of them have international growth plans or even to extend operations (Didi just announced 151M$ investment to enter the car sharing market).
West regions (USA/Canada). is the cradle of new mobility and player are competing at the forefront of innovation thanks to most famous brands Uber/Lyft, Waymo/Apple.
Europe: is an highly regulated market and new mobility struggles to become real in terms of volumes. Further than direct business development a potential strategy to fast the process in the early stage is to link with public transport operators or car manufacturers that are familiar with regulations and they are entering in the mobility arena. Business development is subject to local/national Government approval even if EU policies are expected within few years time to create the legal framework.
So there’s a lot to do and we can be sure that mobility, public transport industry and automotive will converge in a whole new competitive arena that we don’t know the boundaries yet.
Local Motors Debuts "Olli", the First Self-driving Vehicle to Tap the Power of IBM Watson
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages CAV and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
Hot transport and mobility topics
There are currently three hot topics in transport and mobility, connected and automated vehicles and driving; mobility as a service and the sharing economy; and air quality.
The emergence of electrically powered automated shuttle buses for city centres, central business districts, campuses, airports, shopping malls, hospitals, etc. promise to harness connected automated vehicles to enable mobility as a service (as they can fulfil the first and last mile requirements) and contribute to improved air quality.
This is why there is increasing interest in identifying the path to full-scale deployment for services based upon these vehicles.
The recent commissioning of even more automated shuttle bus demonstrations around the world illustrates how much interest they are now attracting.
Two companies have been at the forefront of these demonstrations, Navya and EasyMile both manufacture vehicles and both deserve much credit for the way that they are promoting the advantages of these shuttles.
Navya have over 30 vehicles in operation in various demonstrations around the world including Lyon, Doha, Bordeaux, Ann Arbor, Perth, London, Christchurch, Sydney and Melbourne.
Similarly, EasyMile has nearly 60 operational vehicles that have been used in 130 projects, carrying 210,000 passengers, in over 20 countries around the world. EasyMile vehicles can be found in European, North American, Asian and Australian cities including Nice, Darwin, Sohjoa (Finland), San Sabastian, Singapore, Dubai, Lausanne, Taipei, and Tallinn.
“We consider Navya and EasyMile to be the pioneers in self-driving shuttles. They were the first to explore the space and really set the bar for the industry to start. Setting the bar is harder than raising it and they deserve the credit and acknowledgement for being the first.” commented Mohammed Hikmet, founder of HMI.
Immediate impact and increasing expectations
Wherever these vehicles are demonstrated they make an immediate and positive impact. They look futuristic, attract much attention and promote safe, clean and attractive travel. Of course, there are always some eager to report negatively about such innovations. Recent headlines about the Navya vehicle in Las Vegas included:
What the headlines suggest and what really happened are quite different. During the trip, the Navya encountered an articulated delivery truck stopped in the street. The driver was trying to reverse his trailer into an alleyway. The shuttle bus stopped a reasonable distance from the truck and waited for it to move. While the Navya was stationary the reversing tractor unit of the truck very slowly, caught the front of the shuttle causing some minor damage. With a shuttle with a human driver, there would have been the option of reversing to avoid the incident. Clearly without a driver this was not one of the programmed options. The trials are designed to identify this type of situation and to demonstrate the potential for such vehicles. To blame the shuttle or Navya for this situation is disingenuous and about as reasonable as blaming the owner of a legally parked car if another car happens to bump it.
Clearly there is still much to learn about the operation of these vehicles from the policy and regulation perspective which is why such demonstrations are so important as they help inform understanding of the opportunities and challenges of such an innovative mobility advance.
So, is the time now right to change our approach to demonstrating these vehicles? The misreporting of the Las Vegas incident could have a negative impact on the market and could even delay deployment if officials delay regulations that will allow real on-street operations.
Individual pilots and demonstrations
As with the introduction of any new system, requiring regulation and operational changes, trials in various places and under different jurisdictions is the standard approach to foster understanding and prove the capabilities. This is normal as some authorities are keen to lead while others may be constrained by local circumstance or prefer to follow.
Australia and New Zealand leading the way
Australia and New Zealand are hosting trials and demonstrating real determination to become world leaders in shuttle based service deployment.
Darwin
In February 2017, the Northern Territory (NT) Government of Australia launched an eight-month trial at the main recreational area of Darwin. The Darwin Waterfront is a Precinct by the ocean made up of retail shops, restaurants, beach and lagoons and a cruise terminal.
The EasyMile Autonomous Electric Vehicle links daily Indo Pacific Marine with Stokes Hill Wharf, a recreational area made of restaurants located 1km away from the main attractions of the Waterfront. The NT government is interested in understanding the use of Autonomous Vehicles to better connect areas of interest for the population starting with this last mile connection where regular public transport solutions could not be justified due to the short distance.
Darwin: “The EasyMile vehicle successfully demonstrating at the Darwin Waterfront”
This trial also aimed at testing the EZ10 in an open road environment crossing cars, trucks, bikes and bicycles. The project is also a great environment for humidity (exceeding 80%) and high temperature (exceeding 30°C) testing.
The trial has succeeded in helping evolve local regulations; better management of the state insurance to cover the use autonomous vehicles; and raised public awareness for uses of autonomous vehicles in open road environments. The NT government is now looking to expand the trial to other locations and integrate larger number of shuttles in Darwin.
HMI coordinated trials
HMI Technologies are coordinating trials in Sydney, Melbourne and at Christchurch Airport. While each of these trials is using Navya vehicles, the trials are not operated by Navya, but by HMI and their partners. HMI are agnostic about the technology and the demonstration platforms being used.
Dean Zabrieszach, chief executive officer of HMI, said: “We are committed to developing technologies which deliver a safer, more efficient and sustainable transport future and electric self-driving vehicles have amazing potential in that regard.”
“We regard our entrance into the AV space as a natural progression, combining our expertise in ITS technology, with growing expertise in automated vehicles, we’re answering outstanding questions, we are again working with transport agencies, identifying the requirements to safely introduce these vehicles to public environments as soon as possible.”
Sydney
An HMI led trial has also been launched in Sydney, New South Wales. Transport New South Wales reported on the Sydney launch. “The future of automated vehicles has arrived, with Transport Minister Andrew Constance and Roads, Maritime and Freight Minister Melinda Pavey launching the first trial of a driverless shuttle bus in NSW. The Government has joined forces with HMI Technologies, NRMA, Telstra, IAG and Sydney Olympic Park Authority, to conduct a two-year trial of the state’s first automated Smart Shuttle at Olympic Park. “The trial, showcases a small part of our much bigger vision for a technology-enabled transport future,” Mr Constance said.
Sydney: Shuttle demonstration at the Sydney Olympic Park”
“Today we drive our cars but the reality is, cars will soon drive us and while we are not there yet, we need to be prepared for this change and we need to stay ahead of the game.” “The goal of the trial is to find the best way to harness the next generation of driverless technology and how to make it work for NSW while also answering questions about how it can improve safety and reliability.”
“The first stage of the trial would conduct tests and safety checks in a secure, off-road environment. This testing is underway at Newington Armory where the shuttle will run autonomously on a preprogramed route. We will then extend the trial to public use with the shuttle making the rounds on the roads at Sydney Olympic Park.”
Mrs Pavey said she expects office workers at Sydney Olympic Park to be using the automated shuttle next year, becoming the first to test-ride this new technology before we start seeing it on our roads. “This trial is not only about automated vehicles, it is also about connectivity,” she said. “We want to use the trial to help develop the systems that will enable automated vehicles to be connected to our infrastructure, like traffic lights and to our customers through their devices and applications. It’s the combination of connectivity and automation that will provide the safety and mobility benefits we are looking for.
“There is still some way to go before automated shuttles become common place on Australian roads, but as a Government we are ready to take the next step and from here all sorts of possibilities open up for transport in NSW.” Legislation to allow to trial to go ahead has been introduced into Parliament.
Melbourne
In a Victorian first, a driverless shuttle bus has begun operations around La Trobe University’s Bundoora campus in a trial that will help shape the future of public transport.
The ‘Autonobus’ (surely the coolest name so far for these shuttles) will operate along Science Drive, at first in test mode, then from March 2018 picking up passengers from car parks and bus/tram interchanges and allowing them to hop off close to their destination.
The RACV-supported and HMI coordinated trial will run until July 2018, looking at all aspects of safety, operations, passenger experience and integration with other forms of transport.
Melbourne: “The Autonobus trials in Melbourne”
Made by Navya, the Autonobus is equipped with advanced sensor systems that can detect potential collisions with very fast response times. It operates without a driver, but for the trial period it will be supervised by an operator at all times, allowing the trial team to monitor the vehicle and how it interacts with its environment, and to measure passenger acceptance and behaviour.
With human error contributing to more than 90 per cent of crashes, automated vehicles have enormous potential to reduce the road toll, and to help those with limited mobility travel more easily.
RACV’s general manager of public policy and corporate affairs, Bryce Prosser, says the project will explore world-leading driverless technology.
“This is an exciting opportunity to look into the future of transport and how autonomous vehicles can be used to meet passenger demand and complement existing transport options,” Mr Prosser says.
“The purpose of the trial is to gain a better understanding of the technology – how it works, how it can best be developed and how it can be implemented. We will look at all aspects of safety, operations and integration.”
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan says the project shows that Victoria is at the forefront of automated vehicle technology.
“Automated vehicles will revolutionise how we move around our communities, that’s why we’re investing in trials that explore ways technology can be used to reduce congestion and keep people safe on our roads.”
Christchurch International Airport
The first New Zealand trial of a fully automated electric vehicle was launched earlier this year. It is an initiative from HMI Technologies and Christchurch International Airport to help answer key questions about how these vehicles could operate in New Zealand. The trials are mainly conducted on the Christchurch Airport campus, starting on private roads with no public presence, but with the long-term aim of moving to public roads once the safety case has been made and all regulatory approvals are in place.
Christchurch Airport GM Corporate Affairs, Michael Singleton, says the airport's interest in this trial centres on plans for linking key areas around the airport campus.
"We hope to eventually see autonomous vehicles operating in and around the airport. Before that could happen, we want to understand the infrastructure and operating requirements for these vehicles, to understand the human/technology interface and to build the safety case for autonomous vehicles on our campus. The trial vehicle being electric also fits well with the airport's sustainability objectives," says Mr Singleton.
Former Secretary for Transport, Martin Matthews, is overseeing the trial and describes it as very significant.
"Autonomous vehicles are coming, whether we are ready or not, so we are taking the initiative to be ready. Many people believe we are years away from seeing these vehicles on our roads, but I disagree. I believe they will be with us very soon, so it's important we understand what is required for them to operate safely here."
Christchurch Airport: “The first demonstration project in New Zealand at Christchurch International Airport”
Research and Development
Entirely separate from the local demonstration coordination teams and trials, the HMI research and development group in Auckland has been developing their own technology approach to automated vehicles. In July 2016, the company identified that the rapid advancement of sensors, cameras, data analytics and wireless communications created a convergence with the transformative technology of autonomous vehicles. HMI decided to create its own automated vehicle using in-house technology development aimed at the last mile automated vehicle market. Two independent competing in-house research and development teams worked on both hardware and software approaches to achieve the project. In May 2017, the two approaches were evaluated and the best of each combined to form a technology platform for automated buses.
Christchurch ohmio launch: “The HMI technology launch of ohmio shuttles in Christchurch City”
To demonstrate these capabilities, HMI developed the ohmio range of vehicles and launched these in a technology (rather than product) launch in Christchurch, New Zealand in September 2017. The ohmio automated driverless vehicles can platoon (intelligent convoying) and interact with traffic signals and roadside infrastructure.
The vehicles use existing propriety sign controller technology, that HMI already manufacture, effectively connecting the vehicles to traffic control and management infrastructure devices.
The vehicles demonstrated at the launch can use virtual routes from a central control centre via road side units, which enables the local authorities to regain control of their road network. The ohmio vehicles are enabled by HMI technology which is at the forefront of international intelligent transport systems development and deployment.
Stephen Matthews, Chief Executive, Ohmio Automotion Ltd is responsible for this exciting emerging market opportunity and commented “The ohmio range is set to join the shuttle market during 2018 when production vehicles will become available”.
Ohmio: “Ohmio LIFT the new automated electric shuttle from HMI”
So why Australia and New Zealand?
“Being in New Zealand offers us a formidable advantage,” explained Mohammed Hikmet. “The testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles elsewhere is slowed down by legislation or requires special permits. Here in New Zealand, the government already allows for testing of driverless vehicles. That gives ohmio an advantage as we scale up and develop our technology, especially as we understand regulations here and in Australia.” Connected automated vehicles like ohmio will deliver real service benefits, become a key element of Mobility as a Service, which promises to break down the transport silos that currently exist and provide users with safe and seamless travel and help address the air quality issues in our cities.
Key lessons
Key lessons from the existing trials include the:
Working together makes sense as the various service providers and manufacturers seek to establish the market for electric shuttles and to help improve and modify transport and mobility for all. The services enabled by these vehicles promise to harness connected automated vehicles to enable mobility as a service and contribute to improved air quality.
Richard will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018 and is also a member of the Program Board. Richard will present on "The role of the authorities in TaaS in cities and regions".
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK.The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts. https://taas.technology
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
Getting around town should be seamless.
It’s one of the reasons why Uber was founded in the first place, so that you could push a button and get a ride from A to B. Over time we realised that this could have the added benefit of helping people shift away from private car ownership, and so help reduce the congestion, pollution and wasted space on parking in our cities.
And we are encouraged by the growing body of evidence which suggests that this is happening in practice. In recent poll of 10 major European cities, more than two thirds of respondents saw app-based ridesharing services like Uber as an alternative to owning a car.
But we know that Uber is just one part of the solution. Public transportation will always be the backbone of cities — the only way to move thousands of people at a time — and policymakers are rightly also focussed on encouraging active modes of travel. Ridesharing and other mobility services — from bike sharing to car sharing to public transport — must work together to usher in fundamental changes to urban mobility in our cities.
Through research, data-analysis, and mapping, we’ve already discovered how Uber can serve as an important complement to traditional transit services in many of our cities. For example, in Brussels, London and Paris about 30% of Uber’s trips start or end within 200 meters of the tube or metro stations. By picking up where public transportation drops off, Uber is helping give people the benefits of car ownership without the hassle or expense.
This change will truly come when citizens are able to seamlessly combine different modes of travel — what transportation planners call multi-modal trips (for example cycling to the station, then taking a train, followed by an Uber to the final destination). The reality is that encouraging people to give up their cars and take multi-modal journeys is still difficult in practice. You need to think about different timetables, different tickets, different payment systems and so on.
That’s why Uber is excited to join the MaaS Alliance and become a Member of its Board of Directors to help solve some of these problems.
The MaaS Alliance — or Mobility as a Service Alliance — is a public-private partnership established in 2015 to promote the integration of shared mobility services and provide a sustainable and affordable alternative to owning a car across the European Union. Members range from national transport ministries and intelligent transport systems operators to car manufacturers and cities.
We are going to continue to team up with cities and public transportation agencies around the world to create mobility as a service solutions of our own. For example, in Summit, New Jersey the city signed a partnership with Uber to help get commuters to and from their local rail station — avoiding the need for taxpayers to fund an expensive new parking garage. And when the rail line between Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport was under maintenance, Uber offered trips to and from the airport capped at the price of the train.
We’re also partnering with multi-modal mobility apps to help make it easier for people to combine shared modes into a single journey. Recently, we integrated connecting times of public transport in the Uber app in nearly 50 U.S. cities. As part of this integration, we’ll display upcoming departure times in the Uber app when an Uber rider is en route to a train station or transit stop. And in the UK we have teamed up with Mobicia, London’s leading bus times app to allow its users to order a ride via the Uber app to the nearest convenient bus stop and to offer passengers the option of uberPOOL when bus services are disrupted. Uber’s open API is being integrated into other trip planning apps too — like Citymapper, which allows riders to combine trips on shared mobility services and enables seamless, convenient mobility throughout our cities.
Ridesharing services like Uber are at the heart of the MaaS movement, and we are eager to partner with like-minded organisations to make cities better places to live in and get around. We’re excited to announce our membership to the MaaS Alliance Membership as a next step in this journey.
Marius will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018. Marius will present on "Uber: The Future of Urban Mobility".
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK.The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages CAVs and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
The growing weight of these concerns means that cities must develop new strategies and adapt public transportation services to meet evolving needs. The traffic jams that clog highways and plague many cities are only getting worse. This trend cannot continue indefinitely. Cities need to find a balanced urban mobility system that takes into account ecological issues without sacrificing the comfort of its residents. The current solutions of adding new capacity and multi-modes of transport to match rising demand is not sustainable in the medium to long-term, no matter how innovative and ecological these new means of transport are.
In the long run, at the scale required to support thousands of autonomous vehicles, there is a need for a fleet management and mobility services platform to optimize traffic and the ecological footprint.
Autonomous mobility within a coordinated transportation system requires a fleet optimization and mobility service management solution that decides in real time what each and every vehicle needs to do. For example, which vehicle can most efficiently make a pickup at point A; which vehicle needs to slow down in order to avoid traffic congestion; how to reroute on-the-go as well as other dynamic and complex management issues. Such a mobility platform is equivalent to an airport control tower; a crucial part of the equation since airplanes would never leave the ground, even if equipped with autopilot.
Fleet Optimization and Mobility Management Impact on Cities
A global coordination and real-time optimization in public transportation is not only essential, it’s also cost effective. Take for example the Transport Coordination Centre (TTC) set up in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. Its goals were to facilitate active sharing of information and coordinate incident response procedures between multi-modal transport providers, existing Traffic Control Centres, Games Organizers and their stakeholders. According to Arup/Transport for London (Transport Coordination Centre Evaluation, December 2012) if the TCC were to be permanently implanted GB £ 4.4 million could be saved in London only. The TTC is a human materialization of the principle of fleet optimization applied to urban mobility.
An innovative holistic approach to passenger transportation removes the tension between sustainability, a requisite for city institutions, and the quality of services demanded by residents. Cities need to understand what must accompany smart urban mobility solutions beyond the “hardware” of infrastructure and vehicles themselves.
BestMile - Enabling Autonomous Mobility Services
Raphael Gindrat is CEO of BestMile.
BestMile’s cloud platform enables the intelligent operation and optimization of autonomous mobility services, managing fixed-route and on-demand services, regardless of the vehicle brand or type. BestMile pioneered on-demand autonomous mobility services and is now enabling the first electric autonomous vehicles circulating in city centers on both pedestrian areas and open roads, servicing the public daily.
The Mobility as a Service (MaaS) sector is expected to grow to a business worth over one trillion euro by 2030. All over Europe, MaaS initiatives are planned or starting up and the MaaS Alliance helps these to cooperate by engaging service providers, transport operators, public authorities and users in order to create a vital and interoperable MaaS ecosystem to fulfil high expectations.
Established at the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux in 2015, the MaaS Alliance is a public-private partnership working to establish foundations for a common approach to MaaS, and to unlock the economies of scale needed for successful implementation and uptake of MaaS in Europe and beyond. The main goal of the Alliance is to facilitate a single, open market and full deployment of MaaS services. To support the development of MaaS, the MaaS Alliance published a set of guidelines and recommendations to create the foundations for a thriving MaaS ecosystem as its White Paper in September 2017. The White Paper provides definitions for the main elements of MaaS and identifies some of the main preconditions and the main principles of the ecosystem.
What is MaaS?
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the integration of various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand. So MaaS is a service promise, or more precisely, it is an access promise. For the user, MaaS offers added value through the use of a single application to provide access to mobility, with a single payment channel instead of multiple ticketing and payment operations. To meet a customer’s request, a MaaS operator facilitates a diverse menu of transport options, be they public transport, ride-, car- or bike-sharing, taxi, car rental or lease, or a combination thereof. A successful MaaS service also brings new business models and ways to organise and operate the various transport options, with advantages including access to improved user and demand information and new opportunities to serve unmet demand for transport operators. The aim of MaaS is to be the best value proposition for its users, providing an alternative to the private use of the car that may be as convenient, more sustainable, and even cheaper.
User-centric, customer-centric, market-centric
A fundamental principle and core motivation behind the deployment of MaaS is that MaaS is a user-centric, customer-centric, market-centric proposition within a societally grounded context. MaaS aims to become the best value proposition for both private and business users, by helping them meet their mobility needs and solve the inconvenient parts of individual journeys, as well as to improve the efficiency of the entire transport system. The aim of MaaS is to offer more choices, more freedom and more certainty to the end users. Therefore we should stop talking about changing the consumers’ behavior and instead steer the development from the supply side by creating attractive but sustainable options. Restricting the consumers’ freedom of choice will not be the winning solution.
Added value builds on open data and interoperability
The development of the MaaS market will rely on access and openness of data, open APIs (Application Programming Interface) and more flexible transport and mobility regulations. When defining regulatory principles for a digitalized transport system, it is imperative to encourage the participation of all market players – both existing and new players - and avoid stifling innovation. IT technologies developed for MaaS should support both commercial-interest-driven and public-service types of MaaS deployment, even though the business models and interests behind them may vary.
Open IT architectures and standardised sub-element features, such as payment, ticketing, authentication and security, will enable the development of the MaaS market. In addition to open standards, an imperative requirement is a high quality of the data being exchanged. In terms of regulatory measures, the emergence of new mobility services can best be achieved by supporting access to the transport market and encouraging data sharing. An interesting example of a brave and modern regulatory approach is Finland’s Act on Transport Services, which will enter into the force in January 2018 (https://www.lvm.fi/en/-/act-on-transport-services-955864) creating a revolutionary multimodal regulatory framework for the provision of transport services and data sharing.
While designing and establishing the MaaS ecosystem, the principles of openness and inclusivity should be fully respected, meaning that the ecosystem should be open to all service providers and inclusive of all different kinds of users, including persons with reduced mobility or disabilities. In order to build attractiveness and public acceptance for MaaS services, the whole value chain should be carefully and inclusively designed to meet the high expectations related to ecological and financial sustainability.
In the context of MaaS, roaming is defined as the ability of a MaaS customer to access (including payment of) mobility services in markets other than his/her own, regardless of whether these mobility services are purchased in a package or as individual trips. Roaming brings additional benefits to MaaS customers by enabling seamless provision and use of integrated mobility services, providing attractive alternatives to the individually owned passenger vehicle.
Roaming of the MaaS services, from city to city and across borders, is one of the key elements for the success of MaaS. By enabling service roaming we ensure not only quick scalability but more importantly unprecedented usability for end-users. Given that people already cross European borders with their vehicles, it is important to allow them that same freedom of movement without vehicle ownership. As a starting point, the scope of roaming should cover at least the whole European market area, but eventually the target will be the global roaming of mobility services. In the telecommunications industry, roaming is made possible through providers who have reached cooperative agreements and it is worthwhile to learn from the experience from the telecom industry, regarding both regulatory and self-regulatory measures. In this context, MaaS can be referred as an “over-the-top” service of transportation, similar to Netflix, Spotify and WhatsApp, reforming completely the way services are provided and consumed.
Interested to learning more about the MaaS Alliance? Please have a look: https://maas-alliance.eu/
Piia will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018. Piia will present on "MaaS – from hype to delivery ".
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK.The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Lyft, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
TaaS Technology Magazine: Connected cars are at the forefront of IoT deployments, why do you think IoT is so popular in this sector?
Rakesh Kushwaha: Cars generate a lot of data and, while we’ve known that for many years, now that they’re connected there’s a means to pull down the raw data and send it somewhere. That in itself is only the first step, what’s useful and attractive are the insights that come out of the data once it has been pulled out of the car and sent somewhere.
The market is taking off rapidly because there are now a lot of companies that are able to generate useful insights now that the technology enabler of data collection connectivity is here. We see huge opportunities that are already realities in areas such as fleet management, predictive maintenance and usage-based insurance (UBI). There are a lot of common applications from providers in these areas because the business case is so strong. If you take UBI, for example, the amount insurers can save with the data they gather and the means they have for monetising this from the consumer, makes the connected car business case compelling.
TaaS Technology Magazine: Which organisations do you see as the leaders in terms of fitting connected car technology to vehicles?
RK: There are too many participants in this market to list. All sorts of organisations can install connected car technology into vehicles and this extends from individual service providers through to car makers themselves. What seems to be the most common interface is the on-board diagnostics (OBD) port which can create a small number of data sources. The problem this presents is that it’s not like a cigarette lighter in a car – you don’t want it to have multiple devices plugged in at once. If you did, in my car for certain, there’d be nowhere to put your left foot.
This means service providers will soon face limitations because, if you’re already using the OBD port for UBI, you can’t use it to support an app such as a mobile operator’s offering that is used for tracking your children and setting up parameters so they don’t stray too far from a given area while they’re using the car. They are going to need a splitter for that or the customer will have to choose which app they want to use.
This needs to be addressed and auto OEMs need to find a way to enable these multiple business models to exist. In addition, they can choose to expose much more data than that done via the OBD port – a specification of which goes back to 1995. I’d like to see more data made available to connected car apps and the OBD port is probably not the most convenient way of doing this. Therefore I can see an alternative means for third parties to plug into the vehicle and extract data coming to the market soon.
TaaS Technology Magazine: What do you see as Nokia’s role in the connected cars market?
RK: From the perspective of our entire portfolio we have a broad range of products to help the connected car and vehicle-to-x (V2X) use cases. Obviously, our heritage is as a communications enabler and our 5G Auto Alliance participation is certainly innovating and working on new solutions for the V2X market. However, communications is only the enabler of connected cars, the value comes from the apps that are enabled and this brings me to Nokia’s Applications and Analytics business group.
There’s a clear opportunity for Nokia’s IMPACT product to help address the problems of connected car communications. For instance, I’ve had to take my new car to the dealer multiple times for software updates – first it was to install CarPlay, then it was to fix an airbag error, then the navigation map content and even more recently a software recall on the sunroof. These are real problems that should be trivial to address via an over-the-air software upgrade but they’re causing customer inconvenience and causing high costs for dealers and ultimately the auto OEM.
Our IMPACT product addresses this and in the future can be used to support applications such as high definition mapping that enable the vehicle to know, for example, that there’s a pothole ahead. Once we’re positioned to handle firmware over the air and software over the air upgrades, we’re positioned to handle UBI, fleet management and fuel efficiency monitoring.
Why not have one OBD dongle for everything? Service providers don’t want to own the OBD port, they just want access to the data so I see no reason why Nokia IMPACT can’t be the broker for that.
TaaS Technology Magazine: Please can you tell us more about Nokia IMPACT and what it offers?
RK: IMPACT is made up of several different layers across cloud, device management, data collection, application enablement and security end-to-end – all regardless of the thing you’re managing.
The components can scale to meet demand very rapidly so you can manage software securely and economically. IMPACT can take inputs from old protocols such as CAN in the vehicle and make data available through the cloud and make federations to all those who need it and who pay for the data.
We believe IMPACT can be the middleground between the vehicle systems and technologies and meeting the data requirements of the individual connected car applications.
TaaS Technology Magazine: Security is increasingly coming into this discussion. The connected car is an environment with obvious security risks and a high level of user concern. How have you built security in to the IMPACT offering?
RK: Security is a key part of any connected car application. It is paramount and the way we’ve implemented our security is a differentiator. First, we use industry best practices such as two-way authentication, signed software delivery from a trusted source; certificates and encryption. Secondly, we analyse the traffic at the device and in the network for anomalies such as malware or intrusion. Then lastly we have the capability to reflash firmware autonomously so all the user gets is a message to say that a problem has been found and fixed.
TaaS Technology Magazine: There seem to be lots of individual connected car applications but have you seen any examples that demonstrate the full extent of the connected car ecosystem?
RK: One example is a concept car we collaborated on with members from our IoT community ecosystem. People assume that the next wave of innovation will be autonomous driving capability but the great thing about this project is we’re thinking beyond even that. We’re assuming all of the autonomous driving functions happen and users may end up not owning the car but using it as and when they need it.
We are likely to see the majority of drivers using cars that aren’t their own so the challenge to service providers becomes one of making the car feel like their own. In our concept, we demonstrated adjusting the vehicle to personal preferences automatically including features such as installing the drivers’ favorite music or news app on the car, putting the seat in their chosen position, positioning the mirrors and seamlessly configuring the car to make and receive calls without a cumbersome Bluetooth pairing (and de-pairing) process.
If you think about it – Nokia’s IMPACT platform has been managing smartphones for years. When a phone turns on for the first time, it’s settings get pushed to the phone, apps can be installed overthe-air, contacts can be pushed and the phone is ready for use. As cars become software platforms; it’s a natural fit for us to be able to configure settings in the vehicle, install software to the vehicle, manage its connectivity and many other functions.
Because our software is inside the vehicle, we would have the capability to expose more data than just what can be read from the OBD port. The data can be used to service the multitude of applications mentioned above – UBI, fleet management, family tracking, preventative maintenance and others.
TaaS Technology Magazine: What do you see as the next steps for increasing the maturity of the connected cars sector?
RK: Many connected car services are now reality but there are a wide range of auxiliary services that need to be considered. Much of the technical challenges are being addressed and the new options that are coming to market for connectivity add a further dimension to the flexibility and choices available in this market. For instance, while 5G cellular communications remain many years away, IoT-specific technologies such as narrowband-IoT and low power wide area (LPWA) connections are coming to market. Designed for IoT, these bearers are highly suitable for some of the low bandwidth, regular communications a vehicle makes with an OEM or a fleet manager.
Aside from the connectivity, apps and services that are continually being developed, there is still work to do on standardisation and enabling integration between the network, the apps and the vehicle. Ongoing utilisation of the OBD port requires a smoother, more efficient means of enabling multiple applications to interact with the vehicle’s systems simultaneously. The OBD port was never designed as a data extraction point for applications other than dealer and OEM use. It was also never designed with the intention of supporting multiple applications. For it to continue to be used and deliver the functionality that apps require it is necessary for systems that enable the OBD to be orchestrated and secured to come to market.
Nokia’s IMPACT can provide this functionality and really support the OBD port as the critical extraction point for data from the car. With these capabilities, data can be simply federated to all stakeholders across the connected car value chain, with appropriate payment for the value provided being collected from each as part of the process.
Finally, it’s important to take into account that the connected car is part of a wider ecosystem and connected car data and services are inextricably linked with smart cities and smart transportation platforms as well as other more vertical segments. Most organisations across this value chain don’t want only a connected car platform, they want connected cars to integrate smoothly into a wider IoT platform and to have the capability to play their role in the enlarged digital services value chain, of which cars are just one aspect.
nokiaWe see the fragmentation that currently exists in the market as different device and software platforms are utilised starting to disappear as approaches coalesce and become more unified. This in turn will bring the costs of deploying systems such as fleet management down and the great news for all is that as the cost comes down the ubiquity goes up.
Learn how Nokia, Hertz and other members of the ng Connect Program applied the latest IoT technologies to develop a driver-optimized rental car experience.
Marc will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018. Marc will present on "The future of connected cars: beyond autonomous horses".
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Lyft, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
Prior to setting up his new ventures, Si spent 7 years at Transport for Greater Manchester, where he architected the transport use cases for the UK’s flagship £10m Internet of Things (IoT) City Demonstrator, CityVerve, and the highly innovative Cisco Innovation, CitySPIRE – a world-first on using IoT to tackle the issue of aggregating demand and embedding flexible on demand transport into mainstream public transit.
We asked Si to provide us more detail on what TravelSpirit and TSio is doing on the Open Internet of Mobility. It is our hope that this article will help stimulate debate around what the key priorities for technical developments in transportation should be for the coming years, and how smart technology can improve transport services and help drive business improvement.
So what is the big picture here?
As revolutionary as the move from horses to the internal combustion engine, technological advances are yet again transforming transport beyond recognition.
As whole industries find themselves converging into the same space, new supply chains and business models are emerging.
Venture Capital money is coming in, such as the $1bn raised to date by Ofo bike-sharing company, that is subsidising areas of our transport system that would typically be picked up by local government.
This new revolution has been given the term “Mobility as a Service” or “Transportation as a Service”. Si’s organisations use the “Mobility as a Service” term, so we’ll use this throughout the rest of this article.
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept that empowers users to make individual journeys and/or overall mobility lifestyle choices that involve combinations of flights, ferries, private car, shared mobility services (e.g. taxi’s, car hire and bike rental) and public transport (e.g. railways, trams and buses).
As we have seen with AirBnB, Uber and IoT company Mobike, new market entrants are increasingly global in outlook from day one and raising the bar on consumer expectations for seamless, pain-free and user experiences.
Consumer markets are moving away from a desire to own cars to being in control of their digitalised lives: leading to a global demand for Mobility as a Service – a market valued at £1 trillion by 2030.
New flexible and sharing economy services, are blurring the lines between private and public transportation, creating a real need for integration across the whole transport spectrum.
Yet current infrastructure and data for travel booking, payment and information is often locked away in silos. It means little interoperability between modes of transport, across borders or between competing transport companies.
This market fragmentation creates numerous pain-points for the travelling public, and risks constraining and stifling the full market potential of MaaS.
So, how is technology driving these changes?
Technology is impacting not only what the art of the possible is through new technological capabilities such as the ubiquitous connectivity of the Internet of Things, decentralised databases of the Blockchain and increasing levels of automation through Artificial Intelligence.
It is changing society, consumer behaviours and the very fabric of how our economy functions…and with these paradigm shifts, there is a risk that society could lose sight of the outcomes they want to achieve from these advances.
This is where the Travelspirit Foundation comes in!
TravelSpirit Foundation (www.travelspirit.foundation) is a global, values driven, organisation, with a decentralised and agile governance structure to support their rapidly growing community.
TravelSpirit Foundation has four core functions:
One: Policy think tank, as demonstrated by our growing series of white papers.
Two: Members services, that include workshop facilitation, networking events and helping clients with routes to market.
Three: Community curation, that includes the development of self-governing regional nodes, starting with the UK, and now incubating new operations in Northern Italy (Turin), Ontario (Toronto), Singapore and Cape Town.
And finally, four: fundraising for the Open Internet of Mobility.
Since their 1st annual conference, in Manchester, in June 2016, TravelSpirit’s open MaaS community (www.travelspirit.io) has grown in both numbers and diversity of participants. From a “Manchester thing” they are now a “Global thing”, with new in-roads being made on the technology front into the global IoT and blockchain communities.
On the transport industry front they’ve succeeded in bringing the automotive industry into what started out as a public transportation focussed project. This was achieved thanks to the early strategic partnership work with University of Salford, Northern Automotive Alliance and Cisco on the ConcentriCity Alliance R&D programme for integrating Internet of Things technology with Artificial Intelligence to create a framework for a radical new autonomous system for public transit.
The TravelSpirit Community is a growing global network of transport operators, software developers, businesses, policy makers, planners and activists across the mobility and technology sectors, who are united by our four core values.
Most crucially the community believes that an open, integrated, connected, multi-modal MaaS system provides the path to sustainable and equitable transportation for all.
So, what do these observations around the convergence of technology and the Mobility as a Service market trend mean for the 20th Century transport industries?
In the world of automotive, we are seeing a lot of proactive investment in exploring new business models by the incumbent car manufacturers.
However, the industry’s trade secrets are being rapidly learnt by the big technology giants.
To survive, car manufacturers, need to identify and secure new revenue lines to replace falling returns from the car showroom floor.
An on-going key challenge is how to redefine their brand identities from status symbols to a meaningful lifestyle enabler for the 21st century.
In the airline and travel industries this sector was the first to be transformed by the new platform economies, such as AirBnB, with many positive, albeit controversial, results for customers and the industry as a whole.
Mobility as a Service is in the dna of this industry, which also has a strong record for business model innovation.
However, the market has become beholden to a small number of aggregation platforms, who are now slowing up further innovation.
A key next challenge for the industry is how to provide customers an end-to-end journey experience through integration with ground transportation.
In the world of public transport, the industry regulators continue to push for more open data.
However, ironically, we are finding that the very same companies who have benefited most from open data, are highly closed in their own approach to sharing.
We are also finding that the incumbent operating companies are struggling to undergo the necessary cultural and organisational change, to reform the market from within.
A key challenge moving forwards, is how to incentivise the development of open ecosystems – the theme of TravelSpirit’s 2nd annual conference.
So, it is Si Ho’s hypothesis that all these factors are leading to a convergence in transportation – where the institutions built around 20th century industries will be deconstructed and rebuilt around a new global and universal mobility system.
At TravelSpirit Foundation, it is their vision is to enable the Open Internet of Mobility so the world can enjoy and benefit from an integrated, connected, multi-modal mobility experience.
They want to enable both private and public mobility providers to compete in a transparent Mobility-as-a-Service market place that is focused on providing personalised customer-centric services to anyone and everyone.
And they think that the key disrupter and eventual glue to this new eco-system will be a much higher level of the sharing of transportation resources, which will lead to a more sustainable and equitable future.
This is the exciting question! The work TravelSpirit has done to date has identified 5 core technology principles that they believe will be necessary to achieve the outcomes they are looking for:
First and foremost, TravelSpirit believes that the open Internet of Mobilty, like the Internet, must be built with open protocols and data. Their strategic partners the Open Data Institute have some very good compelling reasons to believe this is a worthy path to follow.
Many commentators have talked about data as the new oil. However, placing a fixed price and access restrictions on data intrinsically limits the full value potential that can be achieved through the combination and fusion of big data.
A better standpoint, that the ODI is advocating to the transport industry is to stop selling data and focus on selling services – reimagining data not as oil but as infrastructure, analogous to our historic investment in road and railways infrastructure.
So, can we provide a practical example of a technological innovation that would form part of this new Open Internet of Mobility?
When Si left Transport for Greater Manchester earlier this year, he promised himself some “time-out”, as a 1st Class Cambridge Mathematics graduate, to research into the theory and practice behind Blockchain technologies.
Like many people before him, the experience of immersing himself in the world of Proof of Work Algorithms, Cryptographic security techniques and decentralised consensus was a truly enlightening experience.
When he moved up to Manchester from London 8 years ago, as an urban planner, he claims he had no idea that in that same year Bitcoin was born! So it has been fascinating for him to research the full history of the development of Bitcoin to the creation of Ethereum and now the new token-based crowd-funding route (ICO) that is now raising well over 3 times more capital than the entire VC market for blockchain projects.
Blockchain is certainly not for the faint hearted – but the potential for blockchain to help the Internet of Things market scale, is, he believes, something not to ignore.
Certainly, for Si, he has revelled in architecting the TSio Protocol; through a novel combination Blockchain and IoT technology, to solve some pertinent transport industry problems that IoT on its own is unable to solve.
So what problem and market opportunity does TSio Protocol address?
Like all successful businesses, the protocol is defined by a real-world problem and an identified market opportunity.
With cities consuming between two-thirds and three-quarters of the world’s energy, their role in driving a clean energy future is inescapable. Around 1.5 million people are added to the global urban population every week, and the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas is heading for 66 percent by 2050.
Uncontrolled, rapid urbanization presents acute challenges for national and local governments, with constrained capacity and finance for infrastructure delivery. Unplanned and poorly managed urbanization can give rise to inequality, pollution, and costly sprawling development plans. Too much of city development and planning is based on existing habits and behaviours, which oftentimes neither address the challenges, nor increase happiness.
Around the world, new ways of providing mobility are appearing in our cities and towns each day. From autonomous vehicles to e-bikes, new technologies are bringing our science-fiction dreams to life. At the same time, rapid adoption of mobile Internet access is creating new business models and service offerings that change the way we access existing modes.
In the UK, we can see the start of changing travel behaviour as car clubs have grown to 250,000 members across the UK in the last 10 years, whilst public bike-share schemes have reached 17 towns and cities. There are several different models of ridesharing services serving people from festival goers to urban commuters.
Recently, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has emerged from within this exciting frontier to offer travellers a powerful new alternative to car ownership in the form of seamless multi-modal transport. It provides a range of mobility offers across modes and locations, all linked through an integrated user interface.
While good progress is being made on MaaS in cities with healthy open eco-systems, such as Helsinki, Birmingham and Singapore, commercial tensions between competing transportation businesses make aggregation of services and data highly challenging to enable the concept of a MaaS aggregator app to scale across every part of the UK, let alone globally.
Then there is a new problem that is causing a lot of pain for data-rich organisations who must comply with latest European data protection regulations – the General Data Protection Regulation on handling personal data.
So, what is the solution?
It is in fact a very simple one. For some time smaller cities than places like London, who are not blessed with a £1.3bn per annum operating budget for their transport infrastructure and systems, have been scratching their heads over how they could possibly afford a world-leading state-of-the-art smart ticketing scheme.
The problem, to some degree, has been a philosophical one. The city wants to own its customers, have its data – presumably because they’ve been told it’s the new oil – and most crucially, build a secure fortress to protect all that personal and commercial data that they will inevitably need to manage.
But what if a city was comfortable enough in its own skin not to feel the need for such centralist hierarchies? What if they simply want to enable their citizens to have a great experience of their transport systems? Then the answer, for Si Ho at least, is simple: enable a decentralised system to evolve, where the customer’s own and control their data.
TSio Protocol can be functionally described as a “universal, secure and scalable mobility account for connected people and cars.”, built to deliver the following key features:
Sounds simple – but how? That is where the latest developments on the Blockchain come in.
Most new-comers to Blockchain will know about Bitcoin. Bitcoin is highly secure and protects the identity of its users to a point of understandable, and real, discomfort to national and international security issues – i.e. the downside of the “dark web” that Bitcoin has enabled.
But if you research further, you begin to understand that Bitcoin is 2009 blockchain technology. What does 2017 blockchain technology look like?
You’ll find that new algorithms and underlying protocols are being developed that solve a lot of new problems and address many of the concerns that Bitcoin has raised.
What if remaining anonymous is not the key priority of your blockchain network? What if the transaction values involved are capped to a level, as we see happening on contactless EMV, that require a lower threshold to secure the network from fraudulent activity?
How about if we can create a blockchain network where all processing nodes and users are known to each other, such that trust can be created without exerting thousands of watts of computing power?
At the heart of the TSio Protocol solution, is a novel crypto token, the Tsio, that at any point in time is tethered to an account, a geographic location and holding device.
This interaction between the digital and physical domain provides a helpful mathematical constraint for the intended use case of paying for movement of people and goods. It enables high volumes of low value transactions and fast validation processes for speedy through-put.
TSio Protocol’s Blockchain network can remain highly decentralised and secure, via the ability to run “nodes” on connected cars, local ticket validator machines and smartphones.
Context-aware optimisation of security and operational performance is achieved through a unique combination of Proof of Correctness, Proof of Stake, Proof of Elapsed Time and Proof of Location algorithms.
The key takeaway is that Si has discovered, is that through IoT technologies, it is possible to create a trusted network that can be used to deploy and scale a distributed and decentralised blockchain network, that can manage a mobility account system for transport, without the need for a centralised architecture.
As an open source platform, the protocol is designed to support an ecosystem of surrounding products and services. In the 1st phase of development, TSio Protocol enables third party applications, facial recognition & wearables to contain travel wallets that can be used to access Tsio compliant transport services.
As transportation continues along the road of digitisation, TSio will provide the necessary protocols for consumers and businesses to manage all of their mobility via a single account.
As the blockchain deployment market matures the protocol will provide new smart contract and escrow capabilities. It will enable the development of new travel and car insurance products and manage compensation and dispute arbitration mechanisms.
Finally, as the MaaS market matures the protocol will provide a digital asset exchange functionality makes it simple for customers and transport operators to openly sell and resell travel products and services, creating an exciting new marketplace – the Internet of Mobility.
It is still too early to write a history of automated driving, yet a number of inter-connected developments are beginning to emerge. Ten years ago, for example, a small start-up from Israel shot to fame when BMW presented the first “vehicle that can see”: a BMW 5 Series limousine with Mobileye cameras and photo recognition software. Today, this expert in camera-based environmental recognition is working with all the leading car manufacturers – and has just become part of the Intel Corporation: “In a form of reversed integration, we’ve put all our automated driving activities in the hands of Mobileye boss Amnon Shashua,” explains CEO of Intel Brian Krzanich.
Despite now being in the same boat, supertanker Intel is giving smaller and speedier Mobileye plenty of room to maneuver. In order to push the project forward as quickly as possible, Shashua is largely free to make decisions, emphasizes Krzanich. Know-how, financial power and speed are required in equal measure. "If approaching this process step by step, it would have taken about 20 years to get from Level 2 to Level 5," says BMW’s Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich. However, now the upgrade of cars to driverless supercomputers is expected to happen in one revolutionary fell swoop. "We defined the technical system by bringing Mobileye, Intel and BMW together. This took 9 months," says Fröhlich, "but now that the system is robust, we’re looking for partners."
Driverless Cars: The Industry is Partnering
In addition to Continental and Delphi, Fröhlich has now secured Magna as another Tier 1 supplier for the non-exclusive cooperation: "Three suppliers are sufficient for now, otherwise it will be too complex at some point. And we are assuming that the partnering with other car manufacturers has only just begun." Such a global network is important he says given that autonomous driving regulation will be in constant interplay with the progress of technical systems over the next 20 years. "At some point, all vehicles will use the same driverless technology. That's why we don’t think it makes sense to try to differentiate in the long term."
Klaus Fröhlich is Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development. (Photo: BMW)
Nevertheless, Munich-based companies want to get ahead and shape standards as far as possible. According to Fröhlich, BMW will have made a high single-digit billion investment for the first generation of technology by 2021. "Not everyone will be able to afford that. Nor does everyone have in-house expertise. Therefore, car manufacturers will have to enter into a cooperation at some point," he predicts. Fröhlich speaks of a "deadline for development contributions" at the end of this year, given that the existing cooperation is already setting up test fleets: "We are jumping to Level 5 and will be equipping 40 BMW 7 Series this year," says Fröhlich. In his opinion, this fleet of very expensive test vehicles is not yet large enough; therefore the network will be expanded by additional strategic partners.
FiatChrysler is the first associated car manufacturer, but Fröhlich is sure that more will follow by the end of the year. "If we want to be ready by 2021, then 2018 will already be too late for new partnerships. In order to complete the system, all tasks need to be completely assigned." It is important to achieve geographic diversity, he explains: "We want to have a Chinese partner, an American partner and a European partner." All those that come knocking at the door from 2018 can use the finished system as an industrialization partner. "Every partner adds value. For example, FiatChrysler will operate fleets in the USA," explains Fröhlich, “even software development will be outsourced, which is also an area where FiatChrysler could get involved."
Hands off: BMW is testing all levels of automated driving. (Photo: BMW)
For Fröhlich, the earliest date by which the technology will be capable of Level 5 automation is 2021. If only to introduce large computers with low energy consumption into cars. "Computing power is currently the main problem. Intel has yet to develop two generations of chips before we get to the point where several mainframe computers will fit into a car," says Klaus Fröhlich. The 40 BMW 7 Series are currently driving around with a trunk full of computers. At present, the test vehicles process data from 33 sensors. However, particularly in the case of LIDAR scanners, considerable development work is still necessary to reduce costs.
Size matters: currently computers still fill out the whole trunk. (Photo: Intel)
When it comes to imagining driving without human intervention, Fröhlich provides two examples: "When I go shopping, I’d like to get out of the car right in front of a department store. The car could then go and find a parking space itself.” Of course, this automated chauffeur service doesn’t come without challenges: The car would have to estimate where every pedestrian on the roadside might walk. This is less of an issue on highways without any pedestrians nearby or any oncoming traffic he says: "Driving 600 kilometers in traffic on a Friday afternoon is never pleasant. I’d like to be able to just push a button and let the car drive. Mind you, that requires Level 4.”
Upon request, the BMW technology boss is able to imagine another development partnership for next year: "With someone who takes on a sub-task. Let’s say perhaps a downgraded version of a robot taxi for metropolitan areas." When it comes to autonomous cars for cities, nobody has more experience than Google/Waymo. Interestingly, it is FiatChrysler, of all companies, that has already built 100 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica vans together with Waymo. It could just be coincidence, but Brian Krzanich has also just announced a closer development partnership with Waymo. Intel will provide the technology needed to bring robotic cars to inner cities. This is something that all players in the open cooperation will benefit from – directly or indirectly.
This article was produced by 2025 AD, the original artical can be found at: www.2025ad.com
The technology to create seamless or connected multimodal transportation exists, but the majority of services are still being delivered to the end customer in a disconnected, piecemeal way. For example, a journey from A to B might involve switching from a bus to a train and then a ferry, with tickets purchased for each separate stage from the different operators providing transportation. In order to improve services and keep up with the huge growth in numbers of people traveling throughout the world, we need to look at new ways to streamline services for travelers and simplify the provision of services for operators.
Transport 4.0 explained
All things point to a future that lies in multimodal transportation, where different forms of transportation are integrated into a single passenger interaction to arrange complete door-to-door travel. Imagine buying one ticket to get you on a train, to the airport and straight to the hotel – where your luggage will be waiting for you. The aim is to make travel experiences more efficient, safer, greener and less hassle while optimizing journey times, and minimizing costs for travelers. We are just now starting to see how this future might develop, with the potential to completely transform travel.
The connected experience – we’re already on our way
The multimodal experience starts at home or on your smartphone. There are already travel planning apps and websites that show different modes of transportation, times and costs to help get passengers from A to B, but even these are done through separate providers and intermodal systems. In the future, we will see services that will be able to book your whole itinerary through a single app - with one search and payment.
Smart-ticketing and e-ticketing are essentially already here. From boarding passes on smartphones to contactless card machines on buses, the next step will be to offer one ticket for all forms of travel. While simplifying travel for passengers, these ticketing systems are also useful to transportation operators as information gathered by smart systems can be analyzed to offer better services.
Single token travel is the next development in multimodal travel—using a passenger’s biometrics and travel data to create a digital record and provide secure authentication. The technology has the potential to create a seamless journey for passengers by cutting the time taken for security checks, check-in and boarding at airports and stations.
In order to achieve multimodal travel, transportation systems need to be connected both physically and operationally. This means having the right infrastructure supported by high-quality, real-time information systems for connecting routes, schedules and fares.
Keeping passengers connected
Communication is an important factor in the passenger journey – keeping passengers connected and informed improves their experience. Smartphones, laptops and tablet devices are ubiquitous for travelers now, as is public Wi-Fi – the same needs to be true for real-time data and communications for transportation operators. In addition, there are applications that provide guidance and wayfinding to help find retail outlets, departure gates or even locate their car, but this is not enough. The real value comes from requesting assistance in real-time to enhance the passenger experience.
Collaboration services embedded in applications through a CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) model allow transportation authorities to provide real-time communications, such as messaging, voice and video, to provide scheduling updates, travel information, real-time interaction with staff and passengers and emergency notifications. All of this can be delivered via a single app, simplifying and enhancing the traveler experience.
Laying the groundwork with open data and APIs
Mass data is gathered every second from traffic management systems, CCTV cameras, vehicle detectors and many more devices, such as IoT - this will only increase in the future as transportation gets smarter. But collecting data is just one challenge. The real value comes from sharing data and creating operational processes to create truly connected transportation systems.
Infrastructure based on open data and APIs will be important to push forward future transportation innovations and mobility solutions. Multimodal transportation involves different operators coming together to provide better travel, but they can’t provide this without knowing what’s going on around them. London Gatwick Airport has already reaped the rewards of closer collaboration with low-cost airlines, sharing live data to provide real-time updates and instructions for passengers on the airline’s mobile app.
Safeguarding the network
Despite these benefits, security remains a challenge. The growth in the Internet of Things and the increase in connected devices used by transportation operators in expanding networks will only increase the number of vulnerable points for unauthorized access – unless properly secured on the network. Cyber-attacks and data breaches are a top concern for IT departments right now, and it will be of vital importance that operators secure this data or risk losing passenger trust and the benefits of streamlined travel.
One solution to this problem is IoT containment, as part of an overall layered security approach. By ‘containing’ connected IoT devices into several virtualized environments on a network, businesses can greatly decrease the chances of a broad network breach, as the threat is confined and cannot spread to wider business operations. Using this segmented approach allows IoT devices to be managed and operated only by the authorized personnel that use them, simplifying IoT management.
Another security approach focuses on mission-critical communications, which has an important role to play in passenger security and operational safety. A consistent cybersecurity strategy is key to keep the communication platform safe from cyber-attacks and ensure service continuity, supported by embedded protection in the system and smart best practices rules.
A glimpse into the future
Multimodal transportation will completely transform the way we travel. The technology is already here, enabled by open APIs to offer a single ticket, payment and itinerary across different modes of transportation. But the groundwork – the network and systems that connect it all together - must be installed now if we are to take full advantage of seamless travel. This means having a secure and reliable network that keeps passengers and operators connected no matter what mode of transportation they’re using.
Mobility as a Service, in short MaaS, is a concept that aim to change how people travel for good. The basic idea of the concept is to connect taxis, public transport, cars, bikes, long-distance trains and buses, and whatever innovation enters the market and tailor those to individual’s needs as monthly packages. Simple and easy customer experience is in the core of service development and combination of design and technology can create something that we’ve never seen before in transport sector.
This disruption can be compared to telecom sector. Just like people are used to have mobile phone subscriptions provided by different telecom operators such as Vodafone or Telia, in the future, they’ll get their mobility in a similar way. Different mobility operators will take care about all the hassle in the background and give you the service promise, and you can just focus on to actual destination.
This will lead to a huge change where former freedom of mobility used to be a private car ownership and all the inconvenience that comes along with it, but tomorrow’s freedom of mobility will be an open world, wherever you go.
In ownership model, we receive one key to one car. The issue is that in the future, urban mobility demand will explode and nowadays people don’t want to travel only locally, they are traveling globally. We will be forced to reinvent the wheel.
To be able to do this, it will need a global ecosystem where both traditional and new transport modes are willing to cooperate. That way we can provide a key that opens all the doors, globally. But that doesn’t make it successful yet. What has been the success of a private car has been the freedom to choose a model that will match with your personal needs. Choice between mobility operators and their subscription models will guarantee the user choice and fair competition in the markets.
Markets can evolve in two ways. If we think of two of the most traditional transport modes: public transport and private car, the big question is that do we want all the innovation in between to plug with sustainable modes or with private cars. It is certain that the one that opens first will be the winner.
The challenge of public transport centric vision is that it can only work if people – meaning individuals – will buy the concept rather than a car. People buy something that inspires them individually and allows them to be lazy. Car has been dominant because it provides aspiration and it is personal. Mobility as a Service will have to be more convenient and personal then car ownership. It means that there must be variation in MaaS packages that do not have the scent of traffic management in them. In other words, it means open competition in MaaS even though using mostly the same parts of transport to provide the service.
Finnish growth company MaaS Global is operating as a mobility operator and introduced its smart phone application Whim to public in 2016. Last summer, MaaS Global raised €14.2M investment including Japanese giants such as Toyota, DENSO and Aioi Nissay Dowa. Also, original investors Transdev, Karsan and Veho continued with further investments. Evolution is interesting as MaaS Global has claimed that Mobility as a Service will be the end of car ownership.
The company is globally seen as a forerunner in the MaaS movement as its founder Sampo Hietanen introduced the concept for the first time already back in 2006. Back then, he was asked to give a presentation to traffic engineers on how technology and internet will change infrastructure and markets and his mind wandered off to the mobile phone business in the 1990s. What if we’re now in the same situation regarding traffic? Now, in 2017, Whim was the world’s first MaaS-service to introduce fully unlimited monthly mobility subscriptions to public. Offering includes free public transportation, free taxis and free cars with the cost of a private car ownership. How this all is being done is with the use of open APIs that include payments.
Next step for Whim is to enter to new markets. App is already live in Finland and a limited pilot has already started in West Midlands, in Great Britain. Company has already published their expansion plans for Netherlands and Belgium latest early 2018. This will be the first-time that individual person can use a mix of transport modes including public transport within the same app and with monthly fee in several different countries.
The opportunity is huge and there will be cake to eat for all. The global market size is over €9 000 000 000 000 and it is starting slowly to get reshaped while new transport innovations are entering to traditional markets. We can continue saying it will not happen but we’ve seen it happening also in other sectors such as in music and clothing. Autonomous world is also in headlines weekly. But as the market size is so big, nobody can do it alone. There will be no ecosystem of any OEM, ride hailing, public transit operator, MaaS operator nor anyone else. Again, good time to look to telecom sector; according to GSM Association there are over 800 telecom operators worldwide. Now if the change in telecom has been driving world economic growth for the past decades just imagine when the same happens in a field that is ten times bigger. Why would you want to compare options every single time you make a trip if you can have someone just fix it. It is time to remember again to whom we are making these services. Different individuals are the ones we need to serve.
At Whim, we believe owning a car doesn’t make much sense anymore for most people. Watch the videos to learn more.
MaaS Global Ltd is bringing into reality the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) by building the world’s first roaming mobility ecosystem. MaaS Global aspires to upgrade the service level of transportation by joining together public and private transportation providers. Collaboration and integration of services will create a seamless and compelling travel experience for everyone, locally and globally.
Whim is revolutionary mobile app developed by MaaS Global. Whim frees you to travel on a whim as mobility isn’t any one transportation solution, it’s a continuum. From walking, biking, riding, driving, pooling, hailing, sharing and renting to subways, trains and planes, we're already highly mobile, but we often experience gaps in our access to these verticals. Whim app is a single point of contact, payment and access for multiple modes of transportation like Netflix or Spotify.
Bio
Jonna Pöllänen is working as a Collaboration Manager at MaaS Global. She has been part of creating the global Mobility-as-a-Service ecosystem for the past 5 years. She was also the one to came up with the service name Whim.
Whim is a smart phone application that wants to give you the freedom to move on a whim. All trips can be booked and paid within the Whim app. Current offering includes public transport, taxis, rental cars, bike sharing and car sharing, and service offering is constantly growing. The application is available in App Store and Google Play.
For more information: www.whimapp.com, www.maas-api.org
Sami will be speaking at the forthcoming TaaS Technology conference in July 2018. Sami will present on "How will digitalization change the automotive industry and the landscape of our cities?".
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Technology Conference is a new two-day global conference and exhibition dedicated to covering the key topics of the Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) and TaaS industry and it will take place on July 9th and 10th 2018, The Slate, Coventry, UK. The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and TaaS technologies.
Attendees to the conference will hear industry-leading insiders delivering more than 30 presentations spanning eleven key topics. The conference will equip the delegates with an up-to-date overview of the status of the CAV and TaaS industry, and provide them with many opportunities to meet other key players within this community.
The event is being organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick and has already attracted an array of leading international experts.
Speakers already confirmed at this early stage, so far include: Autosar, AXA Insurance, ARUP, Coventry University, European Investment Bank, Ford Motor Company, HMI Technologies, IBM, IHS Markit, In Motion, Jaguar Land Rover, Lyft, Local Motors, KPMG, MaaS Global, MaaS Alliance, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, Orange, Pinsent Masons, Ridecell, SAP, SBD Automotive, SAP, TRL, Thales, TomTom, UBER and Vision Mobility.
With only a maximum of 250 delegate places and 20 exhibitors, the conference will sell out fast. Make sure you book your place as a delegate or a speaker/sponsor as soon as you can. https://taas.technology
The ways technology will change, how we travel in 2018 and beyond, Mike Croucher Chief Architect for travel commerce platform Travelport, shares his top travel technology predictions with TaaS Magazine:
1. Voice Search
IBM was one of the first to bring voice search assistants into the travel experience with the launch of their Watson-enabled robot concierge, “Connie” in Hilton Hotels in 2016, but Mike predicts that, “Leaps in technology will see more and more travel apps and hardware integrating voice and natural language search into their user interfaces in 2018, sparked by the mainstream success of the Amazon Alexa.
“Consumers will be able to talk to their digital assistant, whether through their smartphone, Alexa or other device to check flight details, search for a hotel or book tickets immediately.”
The difference in adoption of voice search across different parts of the world is significant. Travelport’s recent Digital Traveller research showed that while just 33% of consumers in the UK had used voice Search, 72% in China had. But in the US, the number of smartphone owners using voice assistants has doubled to more 60% in just 2 years. Expect to use your voice more and your fingers less in 2018.
2. AI Driven Travel Platforms
“Consumers are increasingly expecting to interact with their preferred brands through the channels they use every day, like instant messaging and social media, instead of opening a different app every time they want to do something. This behaviour change, combined with recent leaps in the accuracy and affordability of AI and machine learning means that suddenly there is both a huge amount of data and advanced machine learning that can analyse and understand it, offering a highly personal and accurate service.
“Use of AI among travel firms will explode in 2018, further blurring the boundaries between tech companies and travel companies as they increasingly use AI driven by data and analytics to analyse the customer searches and tailor results based on supply and demand. Powered by platforms with built-in intelligence and learning, travel providers will have the capability to know prospective customers were discussing a flight to South America and proactively push offers,” says Mike.
Google Trips have led the way here, offering location and time-based updates to travellers, and acting as a platform service rather than a particular travel product.
3. Mixed Reality Travel Experiences
It’s been a bit of a mixed year for VR, with consumer adoption not taking off as some commentators had predicted. But Mike believes, “The travel industry could be one of the places that Mixed Reality (MR), the amalgamation of both VR and AR make the biggest impact by offering immersive and interactive digital travel destination experiences to help provide inspiration.”
“Mixed Reality is going to be a real game changer”, says Mike. “Travel companies are starting to offer immersive experiences into a destination to allow customers to feel and experience the trip in advance.” Virgin Holidays have already started using VR as part of the holiday buying process and Airbnb uses AR to give visitors the chance to experience their accommodation before they travel.
And on the trip itself? Well, MR will allow you to feel like you’re in the thick of the action. That could mean anything from visiting Kings Cross station to see Harry Potter pelt towards Platform 9¾ or witnessing Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech live from the Lincoln Memorial. With Microsoft HoloLens already offering MR, enabling users to engage with digital content and interact with holograms in the world around them, tourists will soon be able to capture and share their own MR holiday memories.
4. Blockchain
Over the past three years more than 2,500 patents have been filed and over 90 corporations have joined blockchain consortia. This year alone blockchain initiatives have received over $2 billion of funding, but this is the just the early stage; Whilst still in the early stages of adoption in the travel industry, Lufthansa is already exploring possible applications of the technology and has partnered with a blockchain travel platform. Travelport expects its adoption to increase exponentially into 2018 before the technology becomes mainstream by 2025.
“In 2018, blockchain will make further headlines as more travel companies start accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. Blockchain also has potential to transform the way the entire travel industry processes and manages online payments, enabling direct peer to peer payments and essentially cutting out the middleman. “The sharing economy has flourished under Uber and Airbnb. However, users have to rely on an intermediary like Uber to hail a ride. Blockchain opens the door to direct interaction between parties — resulting in a truly decentralized sharing economy,” says Mike.
What impact will technology disruption have on mobility and transportation?
The first trend I see is the growth of autonomous cars and electric driving that will blur the edges between taxis, car hire, ground transportation, and actually change the way society thinks about the buying of cars, the insurance industry and will cause a ripple that will impact the entire travel industry.
On air travel, this technology will lead to fragmentation and greater competition. As airlines have ‘unbundled’ their offers (offering things like baggage separately), consumers have become a lot more used to managing the details of their trips themselves. The expansion of mobile platforms and people’s abilities to self-serve will push this even further - allowing people to pick and choose all the services they want, rather than relying on one provider’s offer. They will build their own flight connections through online hubs, creating very different travel patterns and causing even further fragmentation among the industry.
All these predictions are part of what Mike Croucher calls the ‘seamless travel experience’. “While travel has always been about escapism, today’s traveller is looking for a simple, connected experience while researching, searching, booking and taking the trip,” says Mike. “It’s not enough to offer a great product any more. Travel companies must offer a great experience.”
Mike Croucher Bio
Mike Croucher is Travelport’s Chief Architect, part of the global senior leadership team and responsible for the architectural function of Travelport’s commerce platform. Mike has an in-depth understanding of how technology is impacting global travel and his role involves translating this insight into technology roadmaps, outlining tech developments which will help Travelport better serve its customers. He is responsible for some of the major transformation projects which have taken place at Travelport in the last three years in areas such as cloud, worldwide distribution capability and API offering. He joined the company in June 2014, with extensive experience and a strong background in successfully implementing IT systems across large, global organisations. Most recently prior to Travelport, he spent 15 years working for British Airways in a number of senior roles, including leading the technology development for Heathrow Terminal 5. Mike spent some of his early career as an architect of the Galileo Global Distribution System and went onto become Director of Applications Development at this predecessor company of Travelport.
The autonomous vehicle era is here. According to industry estimates, the autonomous vehicle market will be worth US $87 billion by 2020, and by 2040, it is predicted that up to 40 percent of new vehicles will be autonomous.
The TaaS Technology Conference will bring together international experts for two days of in-depth discussions and exhibits focused on the opportunities and challenges of a mobility future that leverages CAV and TaaS technologies.
The conference is supported by and organised in partnership with Coventry City Council, Coventry University and WMG, at the University of Warwick. All 3 partners are heavily involved in the research and development of CAVs and are part of a number of leading projects which are helping to shape the future of mobility.
Industry insiders including major international auto makers believe autonomous vehicles will open new opportunities and create an impetus for innovation within organisations across the existing automotive, digital and transportation supply chains. Alongside this, new entrants are leveraging advanced technologies and manufacturing processes to create new opportunities in TaaS and with CAVs.
Aimed at the international CAV, TaaS and future mobility community, the conference will cover 11 key topics:
Confirmed speakers at the conference include the below plus many more. The full list can be seen here.
“The future of mobility and CAVs are a hot topic right now. Transportation as we know it is ripe for disruption. With traditional car manufacturers, OEMs, software companies, component providers and new transportation companies investing billions of pounds into the research and development of CAVs and future mobility systems, we feel the time is right to launch the TaaS Technology conference to connect, inform and inspire the CAV and TaaS Industry,” said Sukhi Bhadal, Event Director, TaaS Technology Conference.
“The two-day conference and exhibition will be a unique event allowing for education, influence and networking between the major international players who are driving forward the new mobility revolution, a revolution which has the potential to save lives and bring new mobility solutions to millions of people.” added Bhadal.
Cllr Jim O'Boyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration in Coventry said, "I'm really pleased that Angel Business Communications has decided to hold their Technology Conference here in Coventry. We have a rich tradition in the automotive sector and we are shaping up to have an equally fine future too.
"In the near future, this sector which includes battery development and autonomous and connected vehicles alongside other solutions like very light rail is set to generate thousands of new jobs and I believe Coventry will be a the very centre of things.
"Hosting an event here which will bring together leaders in this rapidly developing field is very good news indeed." added O’Boyle.
Professor Andrew Parkes, executive director of Coventry University’s Centre for Transport and Mobility, said: “We’re thrilled to be part of an event which is positioning Coventry as a city that’s front and centre when it comes to research and development in the field of transport and future mobility, which is where it belongs.
“For our part, we look forward to engaging with colleagues and collaborators in the industry to offer insight and expertise to help shape future activities around areas such as autonomous vehicle technology, transport design and optimisation of low carbon powertrains.”
“We fully support bringing people together from the relevant industries to collaborate on complex CAV issues. It will involve a multitude of emerging technologies, human factors and legislation to consider and this conference will be an ideal platform to connect, inform and inspire the CAV and future mobility industry.” said Paul Jennings, Professor, WMG, University of Warwick.
“The three hot topics in ITS and mobility are Connected Automated Vehicles and Driving, Mobility as a Service and the sharing economy and air quality. If we get the implementation of CAV and TaaS right we will also address the air quality issues. Integration is key and this timely conference will provide an ideal opportunity for experts to discuss these issues and to inform decision makers” commented Richard Harris, Director at HMI Technologies and a member of the conference program board.
“One of the key reasons for my involvement is that I believe that Mobility / Transportation as a Service will become the next great platform that will drive new business ideas, just as the internet and the smartphone have done in the recent past. The TaaS Technology conference promises to be an exciting event as it will give participants an early window into the future, and a substantial leg up to seek out new opportunities. The speakers are industry leading experts and there will be a wealth of knowledge and information available for attendees.” added James Carter, Principal Consultant at Vision Mobility and a member of the conference program board
TaaS Technology Conference will take place on the 9th and 10th July 2018 at The Slate Conference Centre, Warwick University, Coventry, UK.
Sukhi Bhadal, Event Director.
T: +44 (0)2476 718970
Scalable central computing system for Level 3 and above autonomous driving solutions
Visteon an automotive cockpit technology company – is unveiled its DriveCore autonomous driving platform at CES 2018. Designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of autonomous driving technology, DriveCore is a solution to allow automakers to build autonomous driving solutions quickly and in an open collaboration model.
DriveCore was designed as a complete technology platform, consisting of the hardware, in-vehicle middleware and PC-based software toolset needed to develop machine learning algorithms for autonomous driving applications of Level 3 and above. Building on Visteon's success with a centralized computing approach, DriveCore will provide automakers a fail-safe domain controller, with a high degree of computing power scalability, which supports the integration of data from multiple camera, Lidar and radar sensors.
"To meet the computing demands of Level 3-plus solutions, autonomous systems will need highly scalable levels of processing power and the ability to perform sensor fusion across multiple radar, camera and Lidar sensors," explained Sachin Lawande, president and CEO of Visteon. "DriveCore is the first open platform in the industry that offers highly scalable computing power and software to perform late sensor fusion to enable rapid development of these autonomous systems."
Consistent with the goal of creating an open collaboration model for automakers, Visteon is also announcing four new technology partners as part of the DriveCoreTM introduction:
"Successful implementation of autonomous driving technologies will require collaboration from multiple companies offering specific expertise in different aspects of the solution," said Visteon Chief Technology Officer Markus Schupfner. "At CES, we are showing how our investment in new technologies such as machine learning and collaboration with leading tech partners will help drive the future of autonomous driving."
Visteon hosted demonstrations of DriveCoreTM at its booth, where it will also showcased solutions that will speed the transition to an all-digital vehicle cockpit and, ultimately, autonomous driving. From fully reconfigurable instrument clusters and the latest-generation, high-definition (HD) digital display technologies to driver monitoring, ADAS integration and a virtualized instrument cluster domain, Visteon displayed products that will underpin the epic shift toward connected cars and autonomous vehicles.
Using The Via App, NAVYA AUTONOM CAB Riders Can Book And Control Their Travel Efficiently And Safely While Also Tailoring The Experience During Their Journey
Autonomous vehicle maker NAVYA and Via, a developer of on-demand shared ride technology, announced a new offering that will enhance both the convenience, safety and user experience of autonomous vehicle rides. Using the Via app, now integrated with the technology within NAVYA's AUTONOM CAB, customers can easily and securely book and control their autonomous vehicle travel experience right from their smartphone.
Via is unveiling for the first time at CES revolutionary new technology within its app to control the rider's "handshake" with an autonomous vehicle. With just a tap on the Via app, passengers can request a ride in NAVYA's AUTONOM CAB, control the vehicle's door opening once it arrives at the pickup spot, and command it to close the door and begin the ride once they're safely aboard. Additionally, passengers can select their choice of music, connect to the on-board WiFi and engage with other amenities of the AUTONOM CAB.
"Via has developed the operating system that will power the autonomous vehicle fleets of the future, with dynamic routing and efficient matching of multiple passengers going in the same direction. We're excited to demonstrate for the first time how Via's shared ride technology seamlessly integrates with autonomous vehicles. We are especially thrilled to launch our first AV demonstration with NAVYA, a company that shares our vision for a future of sustainable, shared transportation," says Daniel Ramot, Co-founder and CEO of Via.
NAVYA's recently unveiled AUTONOM CAB, a breakthrough vehicle without a traditional cockpit or steering wheel, is 100% autonomous, electric, and optimized for private and shared rides for up to six passengers.
"NAVYA and Via share a vision of helping cities overcome the challenges of pollution and congestion by fluidifying the traffic flow. NAVYA has designed the AUTONOM CAB specifically for private and shared rides, while Via is revolutionizing urban transit with its exceptional shared ride algorithm. We're very excited to launch such a partnership through our interoperable network system that brings these two companies together and adds another way for customers to access our CAB," says Christophe Sapet, NAVYA CEO.
Volvo Buses and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have signed a cooperation agreement on a research and development program for autonomous electric 12-metre buses. The program is part of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore's drive to create new solutions for tomorrow's sustainable public transport.
For Volvo Group this will be the first autonomous application in public transportation.
The Volvo Group has been conducting research into autonomous transport solutions for several years. The company has demonstrated concept vehicles for applications in confined areas like mines, quarries and for transport of newly harvested sugar-cane in Brazil. One more step towards the future was taken last year with an autonomous concept truck for hub-to-hub transportations in semi-confined areas like harbours and dedicated lanes on highways.
Volvo Group has also presented an autonomous, battery-electric, load carrier.
"We are seeing fast-growing interest in both autonomous and electric vehicles in cities all over the world. Together with NTU, one of the world's leading universities of technology, and Singapore and its Land Transport Authority, we now have the possibility of testing various solutions under realistic conditions. The technology developed in Singapore can contribute to future autonomous applications by Volvo Buses," says Håkan Agnevall, President Volvo Buses.
The basis of the program consists of two all-electric 12-metre Volvo 7900 Electric buses, of the same type that Volvo Buses already delivers today. Volvo and NTU will build the autonomous driving solution on Volvo's platform.
"Our electric buses already make it possible for cities to improve their air quality and reduce noise levels. With our system approach to electromobility we in addition open up new ways for urban planning. When developing autonomous solutions for public transport we can really leverage the Volvo Group expertise in this rapidly developing technology field," Håkan Agnevall says.
One of the autonomous electric buses in the program will be used on Singapore's advanced new test facility for autonomous vehicles and the second bus will be used for tests in the bus depot. The cooperative program between LTA, Volvo Buses and NTU is now underway and will initially last for two years. The jointly developed autonomous electric buses will arrive into Singapore in the beginning of 2019.
Xpeng Motors debuts its ready-to-sell production car at the International CES 2018 in Las Vegas, NV, USA. It is also the first mass production version of the intelligent car released by Chinese carmakers at CES.
Xpeng Motors named its first production model G3. "G" is for geek, and the number "3" is for its category. Since its foundation, the name of the car has been designed to appeal to a younger demographic, and to express a "geek" lifestyle that includes an attitude of both exploration and innovation.
Highlight 1: LED sword-style lighting, sharp front lip and a shark-inspired car grille
Xpeng Motors G3 is designed with sharpness and aggressiveness in mind. Compared to its previous 1.0 version, G3 achieved a much sportier exterior. The curvature of the LED headlights forms a pointed edge reminiscent of a sword, in addition to a wide, sharp front lip - creating a grille-free front modeled in the style of a shark. In addition, the blade-like wheels, red calipers, suspension roof, spoiler, the one-piece diamond matrix taillights, and other design elements all indicate a combination of aggressiveness and the symbolic nature of the G3 that consists of courage and a desire to explore the unknown.
Highlight 2: A brighter and warmer journey in the unique "space cabin", the first one launched by Xpeng Motors among Chinese brands
Xpeng Motors G3 is the first intelligent car equipped with a panoramic windshield imported from Italy, giving an unlimited view of the horizon from the inside. This was designed in such a way to feel like being in the cabin of a spaceship.
Highlight 3: A unique driving experience through the first 360-degree roof camera and large HD touch screen
The Xpeng Motors G3 driver's seat comes standard with a 12.3-inch full HD LCD panel and a 15.6-inch ultra-wide HD touch screen. The center console integrates music, navigation, real-time weather situations and vehicle status control. The console is positioned to lean slightly toward the driver (by 8 degrees), allowing easy access to the voice control and other functions.
The pioneering use of the 360-degree panoramic camera on the roof allows users to capture, save and share their memories anytime, anywhere.
G3 also features a state-of-the-art full-automatic central ventilation system that integrates the capabilities of the PM2.5 monitoring and early warning system for dust, pollen and other particles, with activated-carbon filtering that purifies the air instantly, keeping the air fresh and clean at all times.
Highlight 4: The most powerful self-driving hardware available in China and customized camera structure to address the Asian driving environment
G3 is equipped with 2 front-facing cameras, 2 side cameras, 4 panoramic cameras, 3 millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars and 2 intelligent cameras inside the cockpit—totaling 25 sensors within the vehicle, making G3 the most powerful self-driving vehicle among all Chinese brands.
Motors, declared that the self-parking feature of G3 will be able to handle most parking situations in China's daily lives. The G3 will also feature a self-developed high-frequency autonomous driving capability.
At the same time, G3 provides OTA (over-the-air) cloud upgrade service, allowing users to remotely download and upgrade various official Xpeng applications. Through the exclusive app, users can also remotely control the doors and windows, air conditioning and the security system.
In the new power of the intelligent vehicles, Xpeng Motors keeps a low profile and concentrate pragmatically and productively. Xpeng Motors was the first to receive the China Compulsory Certification by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July 2017, and released its first production car in October 2017. On December 3rd, He Xiaopeng drove the first plated Xpeng car on public roads in Beijing.
"From version 1.0 to the debut of G3 at CES, Xpeng Motors has always demonstrated our strength through fast iterations and executive ability," said company chairman He Xiaopeng. "Compared to traditional carmakers, intelligent carmakers are still quite young. We are in awe of traditions, but we dare to explore; we pursue speed, but we stay pragmatic. This is why Xpeng Motors and its users are attracted to each other and share the 'geek spirit' together."
The G3 will be available to the public in the spring of 2018, and its specific configurations and price will be revealed then.
Collaboration Intends to Build and Distribute Mobileye's Road Experience Management Product in China
These cars from BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen will harvest low-bandwidth data packets, which will be aggregated in the cloud, thereby enabling creation of high-definition maps through Mobileye’s Road Experience Management (REM™) program.
These high-definition maps will eventually play a key role in delivering safe and affordable Level 4/5 autonomous cars, but in the near-term are creating an entire new category called Level 2+. Advanced consumer-targeted systems, which take over the driving tasks under many conditions (on-highway and beyond), have gained significant momentum. Many were included in Mobileye’s 30 ADAS design wins in 2017 and are among Mobileye’s 15 program launches in 2018. The ability to deliver precision maps at scale and low cost by leveraging the proliferation of camera-based safety systems on cars takes these systems to a new level at an affordable price. Overall, Mobileye has design wins for advanced L2+ and L3 autonomous systems with 11 automakers who collectively represent more than 50 percent of the auto industry – designs that will launch this year and in 2019.
Through ADAS technology today, and fully autonomous technology tomorrow, cars are poised to become the greatest data conduits on the planet. As Intel CEO Brian Krzanich noted in his keynote address and Professor Shashua echoed today, the ability to leverage the coming flood of data is critical to the eventual deployment of driverless cars at mass scale. Together, Intel and Mobileye have the strategy, resources, products and design wins to address this coming data challenge.
Other progress markers highlighted during Professor Shashua’s talk include:
Combined Intel-Mobileye Solution Disclosure: Using a camera-first approach to AV system design, Professor Shashua described a combined Intel-Mobileye platform that is power-performance optimized to enable economically scalable L4/L5 autonomous vehicles. This platform is comprised of two EyeQ5 SoCs, one Intel Atom® C3xx4 processor and Mobileye software.
Level 4/5 Partnerships: In parallel to ADAS and L2+/L3 development for consumer-owned vehicles, most automakers are also in the development stages for L4/L5 technology to support fleet-owned networks of fully autonomous vehicles. Today Mobileye announces a new collaboration with large Chinese automaker SAIC* Motor to develop L3/L4/L5 autonomous vehicles as well as bring REM mapping to China. Deep R&D engagements with a number of other major automakers are ongoing and additional announcements are expected soon.
Progress in ADAS: Mobileye shipped nearly 9 million chips in 2017 and launched multiple programs including the Audi* A8 L3 system. Thirty new design wins from 27 separate automakers in 2017 ensures Mobileye-powered ADAS solutions will grow substantially beyond the 24 million vehicles already on the road today. Of note: Automaker demand for L2+ and L3 systems gained momentum as a way to go beyond safety and use vehicle automation to provide convenience value to consumers in the near term. NIO*, the first of four automakers expected to launch an EyeQ4-based system this year, recently launched an excellent example.
Road Experience Management (REM) Mapping:
Dynamic Data Collection: REM is not only about mapping. Front-facing cameras on ADAS-equipped vehicles are intelligent agents that can also be used to collect dynamic data, such as road and environmental conditions (hazards, construction, traffic density and weather), infrastructure, and parking availability. Mobileye recently signed a next-step agreement with Volkswagen* to formalize the collection and marketing of this data. Dynamic data can also be collected through Mobileye’s new EyeQ4-based aftermarket product called Mobileye 8 Connect™. Recent partnerships with the city of Dusseldorf, Spain Directorate-General of Traffic, Gett Taxi Limited, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Company, and Buggy TLC Leasing* represent landmark agreements for the use of this data.
Level 4 Test Fleets: The first car in Mobileye’s 100 vehicle test fleet was shown during Krzanich’s keynote. This fleet will use the development and validation platform described above for a fully integrated Mobileye/Intel solution that Professor Shashua described as “a highly scalable and cost-effective L4/L5 platform, benefiting customers and supplier partners alike." The fleet will showcase Intel and Mobileye’s full suite of safety-minded and economically scalable software, including surround-view computer vision, crowdsourced REM-based mapping and localization, several levels of sensor fusion, efficient, semantic-based artificial intelligence (AI) for driving policy (decision-making), and a formal safety layer (described below). This will all run on one of the most efficient silicon platforms on the market, which has already benefited greatly from integration of Intel engineering talent since the August 2017 closing.
Standards for Safety: Much of the regulatory work to date has focused on fostering the deployment of test fleets, which is a positive development. Now the industry’s stakeholders must come together to prepare the landscape to move from today’s experimental phase to mass production. Mobileye took the first step toward an industrywide discussion by publishing a Responsibility Sensitive Safety framework, a set of mathematical definitions to formalize what it means to drive safely.
Innoviz Technologies, a leading provider of LiDAR sensing solutions, announced the commercial launch of InnovizPro™, a stand-alone, solid-state, MEMS-based scanning LiDAR solution offering the most accurate and reliable performance of any LiDAR sensor available on the market today.
A CES Innovation Awards winner in the Vehicle Intelligence and Self-Driving Technology category, InnovizPro delivers 3D sensing at a significantly lower cost. InnovizPro claims to be the only LiDAR currently available that delivers on all of the automotive industry’s needs for performance, reliability, cost, compact size and product maturity. Now available for purchase, InnovizPro allows Innoviz’s partners in the automotive industry to test and develop the next generation of autonomous driving programs reliably and affordably. Moreover, the current availability of InnovizPro opens the door for Innoviz to tap into additional markets, including industrial automation, security and surveillance, logistics and others.
The product’s exceptionally high frame rate, combined with its high angular resolution and wide field of view, enables it to create a dense 3D point cloud with high accuracy. Meanwhile, its long detection range of up to 150 meters allows it to see with precise clarity at distance. Combined, these features enable InnovizPro to deliver superior accuracy even in the dark of night, cases of bright sunlight or quickly changing weather, and when the vehicle is traveling at highway speeds. Its advanced design also allows fine-tuning of regions of interest and ensures reliability and resilience to sunlight.
“InnovizPro provides immediate accessibility to our advanced LiDAR technology and marks a giant leap forward for the entire autonomous vehicle market," said Omer Keilaf, CEO & Co-Founder of Innoviz. “We are addressing a major need for high-resolution scanning technology at lower cost, with no minimum order required. While we continue to work towards automotive-grade LiDAR with InnovizOne, our partners can order InnovizPro now in order to gain access to the most advanced LiDAR currently available."
Founded in early 2016 and backed by US$82 million in funding, Innoviz is one of the first LiDAR providers to deliver a complete product to market. With more than 110 employees worldwide, Innoviz has signed strategic partnerships to manufacture as well as integrate its LiDAR into the autonomous driving systems of market leaders and Tier-1 suppliers including Aptiv (Delphi Automotive) and Magna International. Innoviz will continue to improve upon its industry-leading scanning performance with the introduction of InnovizOne™, the company’s built-in, automotive grade LiDAR for levels 3 - 5 autonomous driving. InnovizOne will feature even higher standards of performance, reliability, size and affordability. Samples of InnovizOne will be available in 2019.
Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open platform for the connected car, announced that AGL is now in Toyota vehicles around the world. AGL also announced five new members, including Amazon Alexa, which joined as a Silver member.
"Having AGL in vehicles on the road globally is a significant milestone for both AGL and the automotive open source community," said Dan Cauchy, Executive Director of Automotive Grade Linux at The Linux Foundation. "Toyota has been a strong proponent of open source for years, and we believe their adoption of an AGL-based infotainment system has set a precedent that other automakers will follow."
The first AGL-based Toyota infotainment system was announced earlier this year on the 2018 Toyota Camry in the United States. The system is now in vehicles globally following Entune 3.0 in the 2018 Toyota Camry in United States.
"Adopting open source software and being actively involved in projects like AGL represents a significant part of our technology strategy," said Keiji Yamamoto, Executive Vice President, Connected Company of Toyota Motor Corporation. "The flexibility of the AGL platform has allowed us to quickly roll-out our new infotainment system to multiple vehicle models across the world."
AGL Showcase at CES 2018
At CES 2018, AGL will be demonstrating the latest version of its infotainment platform, the Unified Code Base (UCB) 5.0, in the AGL Showcase at the Venetian, Lido ballrooms 3002-3004.
Developed through a joint effort by dozens of member companies, the UCB is an open source infotainment platform that can serve as the de facto industry standard. Sharing a single software platform across the industry reduces fragmentation and accelerates time-to-market by encouraging the growth of a global ecosystem of developers that can build a product once and have it work for multiple automakers.
The AGL Showcase will also include more than 15 AGL members demonstrating their technology and proof of concepts (PoCs) running on Automotive Grade Linux: Aisin AW, Audiokinetic, DENSO, DENSO TEN, Elektrobit, ForgeRock, Igalia, Intel, LG Silicon Valley Lab, Microchip, NTT DATA MSE, Panasonic, RealVNC, Renesas, SafeRide Technologies and Tuxera. More information about the demonstrations is available here.
AGL Welcomes Five New Members Including Amazon Alexa
Amazon has joined AGL as a Silver member. The Amazon Alexa team plans to actively contribute to and support voice recognition work for the AGL platform. Additional new members include Green Hills Software, Kernkonzept, SanCloud and SYSGO AG.
Member Quotes:
"We're delighted to support the work AGL is doing to bring in-car voice experiences to customers," said Ned Curic, Vice President, Amazon Alexa. "It's day one for Alexa in cars, and AGL's work will be instrumental in building a voice-first future for the automotive industry."
"With over a decade of deploying safe, secure embedded virtualization in mission critical systems, Green Hills Software is pleased to be contributing its expertise for automotive mixed criticality consolidation to the AGL community," said Dan Mender, VP business development, Green Hills Software. "We look forward to collaborating and applying our proven knowhow to the evolution of in-vehicle electronics consolidation for the connected cars of the future."
"Kernkonzept is actively participating in open source through our L4Re microhypervisor for security/safety-critical and virtualization-enabled applications," said Michael Hohmuth, CEO of Kernkonzept. "We joined Automotive Grade Linux to further our participation in the open source community and to help enable the AGL software stack for systems that need functional safety."
"We have a strong background in innovative custom design of hardware/software solutions and see open source as a critical piece of emerging technologies," said Marc Murphy, Director of SanCloud. "As members of AGL, we see a prominent future for the connected car ecosystem and are excited to have the opportunity to expand our automotive development platform to include support for the AGL platform."
"As member of the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), we continue to build on our heritage in Linux, use it for the growing automotive market and take part in the rapid innovation process," said Franz Walkembach, VP Marketing & Product Strategy, SYSGO AG. "Specifically, ELinOS is our commercial off-the-shelf product on Linux and works out of the box as guestOS on our PikeOS real time operating system that includes a type 1 hypervisor."
AI assistants, robots, unmanned cars and VR/AR turned heads at this year's CES, which opened in Las Vegas on January 9th. Notably, the number of Chinese exhibitors on display at the event left a deep impression on American visitors. Rather than being sidelined to a minor role, as had been the case in previous sessions of the annual event, Chinese exhibitors, to quite an extent, outrivaled their American, Japanese and South Korean counterparts when they displayed some best-in-class high-tech products, becoming this year's eye-catchers. As the developer of the world's first AI TV, Chinese consumer electronics maker Changhong showcased an AI-enabled 4K laser television, serving as a further demonstration of advanced technologies developed in-house by a Chinese firm and embodying the term, "China Phenomenon".
Data from the Consumer Technology Association, the organizer of CES, revealed that 4,229 firms took part in the event, of which 482 have "Shenzhen" as a part of their corporate names, well above the number of local American firms. Of the 4,229 firms, 1,551 were Chinese, one good third of this year's exhibitors. Chinese manufacturers demonstrated their strong competence in producing consumer electronics for the world via the CES platform, providing definite and incontrovertible evidence that they have completed the transition from "Made in China" to "Created in China".
The presence of so many Chinese exhibitors is not in itself enough to demonstrate their competence. American firms had been the leading exhibitors of new technologies and new platforms in previous sessions of CES, while Chinese firms showcased only new products based on the new technologies. But, this time around, it was the Chinese firms that became the eye-catchers with their advanced technologies. Baidu debuted its Apollo 2.0 autonomous driving platform and disclosed their production plans, which, based on what they said, would make Apollo 2.0 the first autonomous driving platform to move to mass production. Following in the heels of DJI's dominating the UAV market, PowerVision Technology Ltd showcased its PowerDolphin on-water robot with the aim of becoming the leader of the segment. BYTON and Xiaopeng Motors participated in the event with their electric vehicles. Chinese exhibitors also debuted virtual voice assistants, AI, robots and home appliances, which, to date, had been fiefdoms dominated by Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. The products lineups from what could be viewed as "upstarts" more than serve as a testament to their creativity, strong competence in advanced technologies and confidence in winning in the arena of global competition.
Chinese firms are demonstrating increasingly improved creativity, not only in terms of autonomous driving but also home appliances, and the world is beginning to take note. China-based Changhong showcased an AI-enabled 4K laser television, the C7TU, at CES, the traditional "battlefield" for home appliances makers as they each roll out their latest creations. As opposed to a number of single-color laser TVs available in the market, the C7TU, the world's first tri-color laser television, provides a laser light source for red, green and blue, resulting in significantly enhanced color performance. As a pioneer of embedding AI into TV products, Changhong is heralding the arrival of the 3.0 era with AI TV solutions that integrate the technology into its latest 4K laser TV. The technology makes video and audio content recommendations that are personalized to the preferences of every family member via voice print recognition, quickly surfacing what the viewer who happens to be sitting in front of the screen is likely to want to watch. Chinese maker Hisense displayed its 80'', 88'', 100'' and 150'' 4K laser TVs and plans to launch a 300'' laser TV in 2018, as part of its efforts in meeting shopper expectations for large-size display.
Some Chinese firms have shown their interest in expanding into the US market, in addition to their efforts at enhancing brand awareness at CES as a means to stimulate sales in the home market. Huawei debuted the Mate 10pro prior to the formal opening of CES. Huawei plans to make the Mate 10pro available in the US, home turf of the iPhone. ZTE, another mobile phone maker with sales in overseas markets outperforming what they have achieved in the domestic market, has also expressed interest in the US market with their showcasing of a double-screen folding phone.
Michigan-based May Mobility vehicle fleet to integrate advanced LiDAR products from fast-growing Silicon Valley-based LiDAR manufacturer
Cepton Technologies, a Silicon Valley-based provider of 3D LiDAR solutions for automotive, industrial and mapping applications, has announced a partnership with May Mobility, the first developer of autonomous driving technology to replace an existing transportation solution with self-driving fleet vehicles on public roads.
Cepton’s core technology consists of a proprietary laser emission and sensing array. Using a distributed system design, Cepton says it achieves a significant cost reduction compared to the currently available LiDAR systems.
May Mobility focuses on fleets of self-driving vehicles for short distance travel, and will integrate Cepton LiDAR products into these microtransit fleets. A successful pilot was completed in 2017, with the May Mobility fleet transporting riders on public roads in downtown Detroit.
“We left big auto so we could have more control of when our technology would hit the road, and a partner like Cepton, who has clearly communicated expectations and demonstrated outstanding follow-through, is essential in helping us get cars on the road first," said Edwin Olson, May Mobility CEO and co-founder. “Cepton is driving the high performance LiDAR evolution to break the $1,000 price point; we are very excited about our collaboration and what it will mean for the future of the industry."
Ricardo is supporting a trial run by UK Power Networks into using smart grid technology to unlock spare capacity for increased electric vehicle use – maximizing the power available from existing infrastructure while avoiding costly network reinforcement or substation replacement.
The project, called Active Response, will trial a responsive, automated electricity network that reconfigures itself, moving spare capacity to where the demand is. It will do this by using power electronics and automated switching to move electricity from heavily loaded substations to nearby substations with spare capacity. The project has the potential to save customers £271 million and reduce carbon emissions by 448,000 tonnes by 2030. UK Power Networks delivers electricity to over 8 million homes and businesses.
In November 2017, Ofgem approved the joint bid for the project submitted by UK Power Networks and SP Energy Networks as part of the annual Network Innovation Competition. Ricardo has supported the project from its initial concept and proposal development, and will continue to play a key role throughout its lifespan of four years.
Drawing on Ricardo’s extensive experience supporting the implementation of smart grid solutions, its energy specialists will develop power electronic devices, known as ‘Soft Open Points’ and ‘Soft Power Bridges’, and intelligent control systems that underpin the Active Response project.
The company will design the project use cases and field trials for the system, and support the manufacture, testing and installation of equipment to ensure robust implementation. Ricardo experts will also analyse solution performance and disseminate project findings – supporting the transition to ‘Business as Usual’ and potentially providing a low-cost method to unlock capacity for the entire UK power grid.
By 2030 it is anticipated that there will be up to 1.9m electric vehicles in use across London, the East and South East of England where UK Power Networks delivers electricity.
Active Response will be the first time that electricity networks can proactively move spare capacity around the system to support areas that are using more electricity. This means providing additional capacity in residential areas in evenings and at weekends when people are charging their cars, and then moving that spare capacity to where it is needed during the day – such as city centres, commercial hubs or electric fleet charging points.
Upgrading an electricity substation, or adding entirely new substations and cabling when customers need more power, takes time, costs money, and can cause disruption due to roadworks. Instead, Active Response could allow electricity companies across the UK to use these power sharing techniques to connect new customers, and those requesting more power, more quickly and at lower cost.
Sarah Carter, Ricardo’s business area manager for smart grids and networks, said: “Unlocking spare capacity is essential to adapt to the predicted increase in electric vehicles in a way that is cost effective for consumers. We are delighted to be supporting the Active Response project and to help the UK to take an important step to transitioning to a low carbon economy."
Ricardo works with public and private sector organisations around the world to develop and implement smart networks that intelligently integrate energy generation, storage and demand in real-time. Its energy teams also provide strategic, economic and technical advice on how to connect renewable energy technologies into existing energy networks.
Ricardo is also providing strategic services to help businesses adapt to the UK’s changing energy mix. This includes supporting some of Europe’s largest road-vehicle fleet operators to plan for electrification.
To find out more about Ricardo’s work delivering unique and innovative smart grid solutions, visit https://ee.ricardo.com/energy/smart-grids
Infineon to bring electronic hardware to Chinese Internet search provider's Apollo ecosystem
Infineon Technologies is joining the Apollo autonomous driving platform developed by Baidu, the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Based on Baidu’s AI and autonomous driving technology and Infineon’s automotive electronics hardware (including its 77 GHz and 24 GHz SiGe radar chips), both parties will work together to promote development of autonomous driving technology.
Since launching the Apollo autonomous driving platform in 2017, Baidu has built a technology framework and ecosystem, from cloud services and open source software to reference hardware and vehicle platforms. Nearly a hundred developers in the industry have joined the program.
For the Apollo hardware platform, Infineon is focusing on microcontrollers, radar and lidar sensor chips as well as information security and functional safety.
“We are very pleased to see that the Apollo platform is attracting more and more excellent partners and continuously making substantial progress," said Zhenyu Li, VP and general manager of Intelligent Driving Group of Baidu.
“The joining of Infineon means the addition of an important hardware cornerstone to the program. We will keep trying, working together with partners to promote rapid development of the autonomous driving industry."
“Already today, microelectronics from Infineon foster advanced driver assistance systems and electric vehicles enabling clean, safe, and smart cars," said Peter Schiefer, president of the Automotive Division at Infineon. “With our profound expertise in automotive applications as well as the premium products and services, Infineon significantly contributes to the breakthrough of autonomous driving. It is in this regard that we look forward to supporting Baidu in taking the Apollo initiative to the next level."
“Baidu’s Apollo ecosystem is well planned, far-sighted and practical. It encompasses all areas of autonomous driving from ICs to cloud big data while providing an open source platform for developers in a cooperative and open model," said Helen Xu, VP of Infineon China and Head of Automotive Division of Infineon China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan Region.
Top Ten Searches for 100%-Electric Vehicles performed with Auto Trader during 2017:
1. Nissan Leaf
2. BMW i3
3. Mercedes-Benz B Class
4. Renault Zoe
5. VW Golf
6. Hyundai Ioniq
7. KIA Soul
8. Mitsubishi Outlander
9. Tesla Model S
10. Vauxhall Ampera
The fuel type that featured the most premium vehicles was Diesel, followed by Hybrid. However, it looks like Petrol vehicles might still be here for some time.
The most searched for manufacturer overall (regardless of fuel type) is BMW, leaving Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Volkswagen, Audi and Vauxhall fighting it out for the rest of the top searches.
The full results can be viewed here.
Many drivers have long dreamed of the day when charging an all-electric or plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle would be as easy as refueling a conventional model. Now the wait is over, as Continental will be demonstrating at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES, January 9 to 12, 2018) in Las Vegas. At CES the technology company will present two new battery charging systems, both of which help to maximize the inherent advantages of electric vehicles.
Designed for ultimate convenience, Continental’s automatic wireless charging system transfers charging power inductively, which means that drivers no longer have to grapple with a cable. This system is accompanied by a new Continental micro navigation solution that allows the vehicle to be positioned precisely over the ground-based charging pad. In the future, further advances in the field of semi-automated driving technology will make it possible to do this without any driver action.
The second innovative system from Continental – AllCharge – has the potential to revolutionize cable-based charging. The AllCharge system eliminates the driver apprehension of finding a compatible charging station. AllCharge technology can utilize any charging point, whatever the charging rate, type of current or voltage level. As well as being flexible and efficient, AllCharge offers a further advantage as it allows the EV to double as a mobile power bank capable of supplying AC power off-board without the need for additional equipment. In this role, the vehicle can be used to provide power for a range of scenarios, from tailgate parties to powering tradesmen’s equipment on construction sites.
“Continental offers an unrivaled range of charging technologies developed on the basis of our extensive cross-divisional know-how," said Brian McKay, Director Powertrain Technology & Innovation Continental North America. “The innovative technologies we are showcasing at CES will make charging an electric vehicle simpler, more convenient and more efficient. This means that the widely discussed issue of range anxiety will soon become largely irrelevant. Additionally, to bring additional features to the consumer, our AllCharge system gives electric vehicles the added utility to serve as a mobile energy source."
Wireless, automated charging for maximum convenience
The convenience of this inductive charging system, which is more than 90 percent efficient, means the driver never needs to miss a charging opportunity, however short the available time window. For example, a 20-minute shopping stop can be used to increase driving range by up to 12.5 mi since a charging rate of 11 kW, for which the Continental system is designed, is capable of providing approximately one mile of driving range for every 90 seconds of charging. Additionally, the Continental system will allow the existing charging infrastructure to be used even more efficiently in the future. Future versions of the system will be able to automatically “re-park" automated electric vehicles as soon as charging has been completed. That would allow a succession of vehicles to be charged overnight at a single charging station. International standardization efforts, in which Continental is actively participating, are currently underway aimed at ensuring that any suitably equipped vehicle, regardless of make, will be able to use any inductive charging station.
AllCharge: “Universal pass key" for all charging stations
Cable-based charging involves the conversion of alternating current (AC) from the grid into direct current (DC) that is used to charge the battery. AC/DC conversion takes place either in the charging station itself (DC charging) or on-board the vehicle (AC charging) with the aid of an on-board charger (OBC). The high setup costs for DC charging stations mean that AC charging stations are currently the most widespread type for everyday use. At the same time, however, growing demand for higher charging rates requires ever larger and more expensive on-board chargers. With the AllCharge system, Continental’s engineers adopted a completely new approach which is also incredibly simple: instead of cramming even more charging technology into the car, they turned the electric powertrain itself into a ‘charger’. This meant specially adapting the electric motor and the inverter (which is used for converting between DC and AC power) to enable them to support the task of charging, as well. The only extra component involved in this system is a DC/DC converter, which ensures that power flows to the battery at the optimal voltage level at all times. In the case of AC charging, the current flows from the charging station via the electric motor to the inverter, where it is converted into DC current before being supplied to the battery. In the case of DC charging, the current flows directly through the DC/DC converter to the battery.
AllCharge therefore serves as a kind of universal pass key that enables drivers to use any cable-based charging station. Also, since AC charging is no longer affected by the limitations of an on-board charger, if appropriate AC infrastructure is available AllCharge can charge the battery at a rate of up to 43 kilowatts, providing up to 31 mi of driving range in just ten minutes of charging time. At the same time, with the new Continental system, it is also possible to use 400-volt DC fast-charging stations, which can supply up to 94 mi of driving range from ten minutes of charging time. For the same charging duration, premium vehicles with a very large battery can even add up to 190 mi to their driving range by connecting to an 800-volt DC charging station. This brings the charging time closer to the time it takes to refuel a conventional vehicle. Production start is planned for 2022.
Real added value: the EV as a powerful mobile energy source
Due to the high capacity of their batteries, EVs have the ability to double as a power bank. Normally, before an EV with on-board charger can be used in this way, it would first have to be fitted with a power inverter (to convert the DC current into AC current), at a cost of several thousand euros. In contrast, the AllCharge system already comes with pre-integrated with bidirectional capability. And the AC current can be supplied with no upper output limit. The bi-directional capability of the AllCharge system allows the EV to be used as a power source not only in the private sphere but also for tradesmen or mobile service providers, where it offers genuine added utility with the potential to open up new business models. Looking further ahead, this functionality will also make it possible to use electric vehicles as grid-integrated mobile energy stores, enabling them to play a part in the transition to renewable energy.
Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transport. In 2016, Continental generated sales of €40.5 billion and currently employs more than 233,000 people in 56 countries.
World premiere in parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum
Manual parking is now a thing of the past. At the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage in Stuttgart, Bosch and Daimler have made automated valet parking a reality. With a command from a smartphone, drivers can now automatically park cars in their assigned spots without having to monitor the vehicles’ movements. Automated valet parking is an important milestone on the road to autonomous driving. The pilot solution at the Mercedes -Benz Museum parking garage is the world’s first -ever infrastructure-based solution for a fully automated valet parking service in real conditions, with and without drivers at the wheel. From early 2018, visitors will be able to experience the convenient service for themselves in the museum’s garage, and save the time they would have spent parking.
“Autonomous driving will be with us faster than many realize. Driverless parking at the museum impressively demonstrates how advanced the technology already is," said Dr. Michael Hafner, the head of automated driving and active safety development at Mercedes -Benz Cars. “The use of intelligent parking garage infrastructure and its connectivity with vehicles has allowed us to make driverless parking a reality much earlier than expected," said Gerhard Steiger, the president of Bosch’s Chassis Systems Control division.
As if by magic: driving automatically to parking spaces and back
Using a smartphone, anyone can book a car by app. The journey starts when the vehicle autonomously drives up to the pick-up area. Returning the car is just as easy: the customer leaves the vehicle in the garage’s drop- off area and returns it using the smartphone app. Once the parking garage’s intelligent system has identified the vehicle, the car starts and is guided to an assigned space.
This driverless parking is made possible by the interplay between intelligent parking garage infrastructure supplied by Bosch and Mercedes -Benz automotive technology. The sensors installed in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings while guiding the vehicle. The technology in the car safely converts the commands from the parking garage infrastructure into driving manoeuvres and, if necessary, stops the vehicle in good time. The sensors for the parking garage infrastructure and the communications technology come from Bosch. Daimler is providing the privately-owned museum parking garage and pilot vehicles. Together with Bosch, it will define the interface between infrastructure and the vehicle, and make the necessary modifications to the vehicles’ sensor technology and software.
World’s first operating approval for driverless parking
The premiere will be followed by an intensive testing and start-up phase. From the start, the project has been overseen by local agencies - the Stuttgart regional administrative authority and the state of Baden- Württemberg’s transportation ministry and experts from TÜV Rheinland with the aim of assessing the operating safety of the automotive and parking- garage technology. The regulatory authorities must issue their final approval before driverless parking can be offered to customers, and the public can use automated valet parking, at the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage for the first time worldwide in early 2018. In this way, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz will gain experience in how users deal with automated valet parking. Existing parking garages can be retrofitted with the infrastructure technology. For parking garage operators, driverless parking will mean more efficient use of the parking space available: the same amount of space can accommodate up to 20 percent more vehicles.
ZF has unveiled a new steering wheel concept aimed at supporting Level 3 and above autonomous driving functionality.
The system incorporates gesture control via graphic displays to enhance communication between driver and vehicle, and advanced hands-on detection technology.
According to Juergen Krebs, vice president of engineering for steering wheel systems and driver airbags, “As ZF pursues its goal of “Vision Zero", a critical enabler will be vehicle and driver interface. As new automated functions become more commonplace, advanced technologies employed in the steering wheel are important and can help improve driver safety and awareness of the current vehicle control mode."
ZF’s new concept is designed to utilize gesture control to trigger various vehicle functions as chosen by the vehicle manufacturer. It works intuitively through gestures commonly used on phones or other smart devices. For example, a single tap on the cover could activate the horn, and a double tap or tap and swipe at the rim can activate indicated functions associated with that portion of the wheel rim such as changing the climate control. These gestures are supported and confirmed by the center display and accompanying graphic and light displays.
The wheel uses multiple interfaces to indicate the vehicle control mode. A seven-inch LCD display in the center of the steering wheel rim indicates if the driver or the car is in control. Additionally, an LED light strip is integrated into the steering wheel rim with blue lights indicating autonomous mode, white lights for manual driving mode and red lights for driver warning. Other uses for the light strip include yellow lights indicating left or right-hand turn signals – and glowing or flashing lights to indicate various scenarios chosen by the vehicle manufacturer.
The system also features a wide range of functions cleverly integrated into the wheel including 10 capacitive sensors in the outside rim detecting where the driver is gripping the wheel, and one additional on the inside of the rim detecting if an advisable grip is being employed. This enables accurate hands on/off detection – helping to make clear whether the driver or the vehicle is in control. This will be critical for Level 3 and above autonomous operation.
The wheel’s unique configuration presented new challenges as the driver side airbag could not be located in its traditional area due to the centrally located LCD screen. ZF engineers designed a new airbag concept which can deploy from the back side of the wheel through the rim and covers the display, thus helping to protect the driver in case of a crash.
“ZF’s advanced steering wheel concept represents an important step in the evolution of automated driving while helping to enhance safety and driver awareness," Krebs emphasizes. “As we prepare for Level 3 automated functions the hand-over of control between vehicle and driver using highly accurate feedback will be critical. We believe our new concept is the most intuitive and provides the clearest feedback to the driver."
OSRAM at CES 2018 - How autonomous vehicles see the world
LIDAR is like having x-ray vision – it scans the environment, even during daylight hours, allowing a car to understand its surroundings. The sensing system detects objects and obstacles, seeing potential dangers before you, ensuring a safe ride for all.
The Future of Driverless Cars
Autonomous vehicles have made significant progress in the last decade and should be available to buy very soon. In this TDC mini-doc, we look at the history of "self-driving" vehicles, where the industry is today, and what our roads will look like in the future.
Accident Reduction - Trackyo
Linfox testing autonomous vehicles at the AARC
Intel Doubles Down on Connected Car Autonomous Vehicle Investments
This Modular Autonomous Vehicle Is Your Car Your Office And More
Jaguar Land Rover are testing autonomous vehicles
Jaguar Land Rover test autonomy on the F Pace and Range Rover models. By 2020, most manufacturers will have some autonomy in their vehicles whether it be class 1 to class 5 autonomy.
BMW Group Electrification Strategy: 5th Generation Electric Drivetrains
Driverless Cars in the Cities of Tomorrow
Mobility in the city of tomorrow
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