The Future of Automobility

Abstract

A paradigm shift towards ‘sustainable mobility’ has been proposed in the recent past. This paradigm encompasses three main approaches: efficiency increase, modal shift and reduction of mobility needs. The authors of this chapter focus on the first area by presenting efficiency potentials of innovative mobility concepts which flourish at the frontier of digital technologies, shared mobility patterns and vehicle automation. Not only do they provide an overview of these concepts, but they also make an attempt to innovate and design completely new business models. It is based on the authors’ conviction that business model creation and innovation are crucial for a high diffusion of any new technology, as the necessary prerequisite for the industry is to gain profits out of innovative applications.

The contribution at hand showcases current developments in car- and ridesharing by depicting two relevant case studies. Additionally, it provides a description of innovative mobility concepts based on vehicle digitization and automation, along with a review of their possible advantages and disadvantages for the society. Finally, the chapter features five ‘ready-for-implementation’ business model prototypes for the future of automobility. In doing that the authors bring up novel ideas on how to commercialize and overcome the inefficiencies associated with private car ownership and usage.

[This chapter is based on the outcomes of the doctoral thesis ‘Paradigm Shift in Urban Mobility: Towards Factor 10 of Automobility’ (Janasz 2016 forthcoming)].

Appendices

Appendix 1: Three General Archetypes of Business Models for Innovative Mobility Systems (Based on Lerner et al. 2012)

Business model archetypes	Description
Mobility service platform provider	This archetype describes a provider of single point of access for mobility and cross services, such as: identification, information, booking and payment. It requires the involvement of many actors: policymakers, public transport operators, banks and payment firms, telecommunication companies, and ICT suppliers. The latter ones are crucial since this archetype is based on the generation, processing and transmission of significant amounts of data and on high penetration rates within the society. An actor adopting a business model based on this archetype provides a medium for any user who seeks to receive travel information, plan a journey, make a booking and pay for the journey. His challenge is to aggregate, source and contract the underlying third-party services, such as: operators of parking lots, public transportation, bike-sharing schemes or providers of location-based services. The providers of such a platform aim at reaching as many users as possible, since the revenue stream would result from partner transactions, advertising or interest income from e-wallets of the customers
Mobility chain integrator	Integrators are companies who choose to do it all themselves. They distinguish themselves by a high level of vertical integration and by performing almost all value adding activities in-house. This business model archetype focuses on the integration of the entire mobility value chain. There are two possible characteristics: B2C and B2B. The B2C approach aims at delivering integrated mobility services for end costumers, i.e., services which provide seamless and multimodal journey experience. The B2C integrator offers a personalized journey from A to B, whatever modal mix it requires. Providing integrated and multimodal mobility solutions at ‘turnkey basis’ for cities and mobility service providers would be the B2B approach. The B2B integrator could include parking infrastructure, charging infrastructure, automated fare collection, bike-sharing scheme, city buses, financial services, mobility planning etc. Car manufacturers are a good example for a high level of vertical integration, albeit the level of this integration has decreased considerably in recent times
Mobility products and service provider	This archetype refers to many facets of urban mobility ranging from mobility offerings e.g., car- or bike-sharing, through technology providers such as key-less access for cars, to travel planning and information. Although, multimodal connectivity and networking is not the key aspect in this business approach, the mobility products and service providers are the prerequisite for the integration and multimodality in cities. In principle, such a supplier delivers standalone solutions to municipal administrations or to mobility chain integrators. A prominent example of this kind of business model in urban mobility is carsharing and carpooling mobility services. As the present contribution chiefly relates to overcoming the inefficiencies of car usage in cities, in the next section the author will delineate relevant business models in these two areas, as not all business models for carsharing and carpooling services are created equally

Appendix 2: The P4C Business Model Framework Applied for the Analysis of Case Studies (Diagram by Authors)