The mobility industry is going through a rapid and likely unprecedented transformation with technology in the driver seat. How will this change affect the users, citizens, cities and public spaces? What should we expect to see and when? What opportunities does it come with and what challenges lies ahead in terms of technology, infrastructure, smart cities, ownership and innovation? Sweden has historically been impacted by big auto manufacturers, inventions and cutting edge technology, but what is on the mobility agenda today?
We opened the friendly doors of our Malmö Studio to clients and network particularly interested in mobility and the future possibilities that lies within. Dark and cold outside but a nice warm sparkle inside with a really nice vibe. Interesting discussions over beer, pizza and popcorn, nice new acquaintances as well as some of our most lovely supporters gathered curiously to listen to the panelists The discussion was guided by our Delivery Lead Jenny Svensson, Product Owner for the Malmö Studio Mobility project No. 1, the Leasing app for Alphabet/BMW group.
In the panel our own ustwo Global Auto and Mobility Director, Tim Smith was accompanied by Johan Fritiof Karlberg, Head of digitalisation at Skånetrafiken, Peter Esse, B2B Sales Manager South Sweden at Sunfleet and Mona Huber, Creative Director at Uniti.
These are three interesting and diverse players on the Swedish mobility scene.Uniti claim they are is on a mission to offer the best car for the world, by creating small and smart electric cars (www.uniti.earth) while Skånetrafiken rather transport people together, approximately 250000 people daily for this public transport company (www.skanetrafiken.se). Sunfleet is representing yet another route, with car sharing as their main business (www.sunfleet.com). Public transport evolution, car sharing, electric car pods and the users mobility needs were discussed from points of sustainability and accessibility, and our amazing panel brought their collective genius together panning out different perspectives and aspects of this.
Some takeaways from the discussion:
From our standpoint, of course the importance of user centred design in an ever changing auto and mobility industry is central. The users and their needs will always be the center of mobility, no matter the means of transport.
Sustainability of mobility will always include changing consumer attitudes first, i.e embracing the sharing economy within our mobility attitudes in order to decrease vehicles while increasing capacity and how we can change our infrastructure to incentivise this.
From a sustainable perspective there also are still some infrastructure issues that needs to be solved, e.g. implementation of more charging stations and lanes for shared vehicles. There was also a discussion about how to produce more environmental friendly energy to support electric vehicles, both regarding manufacturing and usage. One way Uniti tackles this is to look into creating truly sustainable batteries for their cars.
The Public transport are the arteries moving the many, but there is a need to find better solutions for the capillaries. The future includes collaborations with last mile suppliers and the holistic whole end-to-end journey with the right partners, be it carpools, city bikes or other mobility providers. The goal is to make mobility simple and inclusive.
Inclusiveness also means designing for people with disabilities. Today, blind people, wheelchair users and even people on low income, for example, have limited access to public transport and mobility services, in the future the hope is that needs of more people are properly considered and met.
Given the topic for the evening was with Sweden in focus, we also discussed another view on inclusivity. Since 85% of the area of Sweden is rural, people living in the more extreme areas of Sweden also need good mobility solutions. Today cars are the dominating mobility choice in these areas so to make accessible and simple alternatives is of course a interesting challenge here.
Autonomous cars was of course also discussed, and the possibility of getting from point A to point B in new ways and systems. Prototypes are already rolling, and within a very near future, we will have established mobility providers far from the ones we are used to today. Change in human behavior, as well as infrastructure are equally important to make this work in the bigger perspective. We are curiously looking forward!
The evening ended with a lot of people hanging around, engaged in discussions about all things mobility related, but also just chit chatting over a beer. Really awesome to meet both new and old friends off hours in the studio. Great having some extra ustwo cross studio competence flown in from London - welcome back, anytime, Tim!
Read more about our auto/mobility initiatives here:www.ustwo.com/auto/
