The triple automotive revolution
A Change is coming to the transportation so how will the wolrd cope?
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A new motoring revolution is coming and it’s going to transform everything from public transport to personal vehicles.
I was invited at an event in London organised by Shell with some DriveTribe members to debate the future of transportation. When I arrived in the British capital, I was amazed by the number of Toyota Priuses and the iconic hybrid double-decker buses on the roads. I was also really impressed by the green policy around public transport. If you want to listen the podcast of the debate, click here :
During the event, we all tried to answer an important question: will future transport systems benefit society or drive it apart? It looks like an impossible question: how to find the right solutions with new technologies that modify our ways to move from A to B and which won’t cause severe disruption ?
Industry leaders are certainly tackling the problem head-on, with Shell’s General Manager for Fuels, Forecourt and Pricing Vicky Boiten-Lee saying: “The Paris Agreement has sent a signal around the world. A new energy system is emerging. It will unfold over decades, moving at different paces in different places. The transition to lower-carbon forms of mobility offers challenges as well as opportunities and tough choices for governments, businesses and customers. One of those challenges will be to prepare for what is coming next given the emergence of new vehicle types – electric and autonomous vehicles – and the changing importance of ‘access’ over ‘ownership’, which is leading to more ride-hailing and car-sharing.”
The electrification of motoring: the key to autonomous vehicles
The electric revolution is well and truly here. There’s no doubt that the electric motor will eventually replace the internal combustion engine. What Toyota, Nissan and BMW have done with their electric models is actually refresh a long-dead trend: EVs were originally created at the end of 19th Century when steam was the primary method of moving vehicles.
But with new technological equipments and hybrid and electric vehicles should help to reduce atmospheric pollution without mentioning the occupantswould be in a silent and peaceful environment.
Nothing is perfect however, and electric cars do leave a fairly substantial footprint of their own, mostly as a result of mining the minerals used in their batteries and electrical stuff.
EVs are a good alternative but they may not be the ultimate solution in the fight against congestion and the environmental impact of motoring in our society. And to really get on board with buying an EV, we need affordable car prices and charging stations everywhere in the countryside as well as cities. And let’s just say we’re currently some way away from this proposed utopia. But it will happen – and hopefully sooner rather than later.
Uber: an eco-friendly way to move on?
As an environmental consultant, I can describe how transportation has evolved around the lucrative technological businesses that are new biofuels (solar/wind power, LNG) along with the innovative automotive engineering over the past 20 years.
In the motoring world, the green revolution has started by one man: Elon Musk. In 2003, Musk created Tesla in California with the aim of selling autonomous and electric vehicles to a mass-market audience.
Six years later, Uber was developed with new technological ideas: modernising the taxis and giving people a chance to work as full-time drivers. Now, the ‘uberisation’ of transport has become a new way to move into vehicle sharing through Uber Pool and (potentially) Uber autonomous ride sharing, with full Level 5 autonomy being the goal.
Sharing a car seems like a good idea, seeing as the number of cars and drivers is increasing all over the world. Having less congestion would help solving the problems our governments must fight every day in terms of reducing atmospheric pollution.
But I have a question which I can’t really answer – is it useful to develop a giant fleet of autonomous Uber ride sharing vehicles when congestion is still increasing?
I mean, sharing a vehicle with other passengers will be a great way to create human connections. I am just curious to know what are the limits of Uber when it comes to a technological and green fleet. I like the idea behind the start-up, but I just wonder how Uber could manage to engage more people meanwhile we're still reducing the congestion in our cities.
From science fiction to our real world
We have all seen them in science-fiction movies but Uber is now driving full throttle towards the interesting prospect that is autonomous vehicles. I don’t mean only cars, however. I actually studied autonomous ships at university. Rolls Royce cargos are actually conceived to work as autonomous shipping transportation, preserving the lives of crew members. Our oceans can be incredibly dangerous places, much like our roads and our railways. Safety cannot be forgotten in transport. The new technological applications give us chances to improve safety on our roads in the same way that the shipping industry has realized for a few years.
We have all heard about the famous Google test cars on American roads. Do they mean that artificial intelligence will replace human drivers to protect us from ourselves? Everyone has a personal opinion so should we travel in an autonomous car, train or ship leaving our lives to a machine? How would insurance companies and driving schools adapt to these new technologies?
Autonomous vehicles also create debates about the law. Who would be responsible in case of an accident if drivers don’t control their vehicles? The regulations need to be ready before authorising autonomous vehicles on the roads. Only a few American States have debated this topic. The European Union is slowly introducing autonomous vehicles through some programs working with German and French motoring brands, but governments appear to be lagging behind in terms of the legislation that needs to be found quickly to keep everyone on the same page when it comes to incidents involving full autonomy.
So what will the future of transportation look like? I can summarise my opinion in these words: using shareable technological solutions, implementing the correct coding and legislation to keep us all as safe as possible and, ultimately, self-driving electric vehicles.
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Comments (12)
Hi aurelie, if you look to us and Asia this what you have asking for will come soon reality even in Asia where living space is limited it might be already realityreality the new update don't Mr don't Mr let dontntletmr write 😢
I didn't think about that but you're right. When I passed my licence, the first question my parents had asked me was about my 1st car. I replied them it was too expensive to find a parking in one of the biggest French cities. I'm convinced we'll...
Read moreHi! Nice to see you back :)
Thank you. I try to combine my job and DT but it isn't easy to write some content every week. I hope to find some tribeys to help me on this tribe.
Yeah, the same here but I have no goals, just try to do something once in a couple of weeks :-) as per your article, I think the point is that we already realize the main idea of the future and it is autonomous and sharing. I am inclined to see...
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