What is Connected Mobility?

Connected mobility is emerging as a cornerstone of modern transport planning, blending technology with transportation systems to create an interconnected, efficient, and sustainable ecosystem where the individual user is placed at the centre, with the ability to choose the service that best suits their needs. It is reshaping how we navigate cities, impacting infrastructure design, transport policy, and societal behaviour.

The Literal Framework of Connected Mobility

At its core, connected mobility involves the integration of various transport modes (called modalities) via software, hardware, and communications networks (such as WiFi or mobile networks), to ensure seamless and efficient movement of people and goods. The key technological pillars of this network include:

Internet of Things (IoT): IoT devices collect and share real-time data from vehicles, infrastructure, and users. This is an incredibly broad area and could, for example, include sensors built into 'connected' cars, dedicated telematics hardware fitted to public transport, mobile phone apps, and wayside technology such as video cameras monitoring traffic junctions.

Cloud Computing and Analysis: Cloud platforms support the storage, processing, and analysis of massive data volumes generated by IoT devices, enabling real-time updates and system adjustments. Analysing these large datasets can reveal patterns that can be used to improve services, notify users of adjustments to their journey, and inform improvements in public transport services and infrastructure for the service providers themselves.

5G and Advanced Communication Networks: High-speed networks like 5G facilitate real-time information exchange and are crucial for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, where vehicles interact with each other and the surrounding infrastructure.

Conceptual Dimensions of Connected Mobility

Beyond technological integration, connected mobility embodies a paradigm shift in the approach to transportation, focusing on user experience, sustainability, efficiency, integration, and safety.

The ultimate goal is to enhance the user experience by providing seamless transitions between different transport modes, ostensibly by creating real-time information environments and enabling unified payment options. In the context of personal urban mobility, solutions are becoming increasingly available that can integrate multiple modalities such as eScooters, Taxis, Buses and Trains (amongst others) offering real-time updates and alternatives for the individual user, encouraging multi-modal journeys and reducing car reliance.

If we broaden the concept to cars, however, connected mobility also integrates with the 'connected car', ensuring that advanced safety systems can operate, insurance can be calculated, road tolls paid, parking and fuel can be paid for, and the vehicle itself monitored and maintained, all the while retaining a focus on the individual and ensuring user-centricity.

From an environmental standpoint, by optimising routes and promoting multi-modal transport, connected mobility can reduce the climate impact of transportation. Sustainability is high on the political agenda for many regions, amongst which the EU is notable with its 'European Green Deal' that heavily pushes emissions reduction via technology solutions. Again, connected mobility is integral to this, as - for example - smart traffic management systems can decrease idle times and improve traffic flow in urban areas to cut emissions, just as is the case with the Surface Intelligent Transport Systems (SITS) programme in the City of London, in the UK.

What Real-World Examples are there?

Given that connected mobility is, in essence, an umbrella term for multiple siloed industries, it is difficult to do justice to the breadth of application.

If we look at connected mobility from an urban mobility and ITS context, it is estimated that there are over 100 cities and regions pioneering connected mobility initiatives around the world, showcasing its practical benefits and transformative potential.

As mentioned, London with its SITS programme, Singapore with the Cooperative and Unified Smart Traffic System (CRUISE), and Barcelona with its Pla de Mobilitat Urbana (PMU) exemplify the implementation of smart city technologies, dynamically managing traffic and public transport using data from various sources. Whilst in Belgium, Brussels’s Floya app is a good example of how software can integrate various transport services into a single interface, allowing users to plan, book, and pay for multi-modal journeys.

With respect to sustainability, the connected car is becoming a nexus for many connected mobility initiatives. In the wake of electric vehicle mandates, Road Usage Charging via Electronic Toll Collection is being increasingly trialled as a way of creating a fair alternative to emissions-based road taxation.

Usage Based Insurance (UBI) is growing in popularity as car ownership transitions to car usership, and users require coverage only for the time spent using a car.

In a commercial context, Fleet telematics continues to grow in significance as fleet operators look to improve operating efficiency and improve sustainability to reduce taxation and increase profitability.

And, as mentioned, the connected car, and the connected components installed within them are evolving in parallel to the usership transition, in order to provide flexible features, services and capabilities that the next generation of user will demand.

Challenges and Future Direction for connected mobility

To break down all the challenges and future possibilities for connected mobility is - to borrow a phrase - akin to boiling the ocean. But the extent to which connected mobility is needed, and will impact society, cannot be understated.

That is not so say though that the industry faces immediate challenges. The two largest issues that connected mobility faces involve cultural acceptance and industry fragmentation.

Fragmentation: Upgrading existing infrastructure and developing new systems demand significant investment, including installing sensors, communication networks, and software platforms. But not just in wayside infrastructure. Back office integration is required, multiple modalities need integrating, parallel (siloed) industries need introducing, and all businesses wanting to forge a path in this sector need visibility of the commercial landscape to understand where the opportunities and threats exist, and where potential partnerships can be forged.

Public Acceptance: Public trust and acceptance are crucial for the success of connected mobility. Educating the public about its benefits and addressing concerns is essential. That is not to say that the public do not 'accept' connected mobility. Rather, there is a need to help educate consumers and businesses, as the paradigm shift is, in some cases, viewed as radical.

This is not to say it cannot be overcome. If we look at the political willpower that has recently moved the automotive industry towards electrification, the willpower of the EU that has brought in the harmonisation of electronic toll collection (EETS); radical change is not without precedent.

So, if you look to the European Green Deal, which entered into law in 2021, the starting gun has already been fired, and the future of connected mobility is far more certain than you might realise.