What might the urban mobility of tomorrow look like? In order to be able to correctly categorise the present and the trends of the future, we must venture on a journey through time.

London, 1800: The city was one of the three largest in the world and managed to break through the one-million-inhabitant mark. A dense network of railway lines allowed commuters from the surrounding areas to work in the centre. Areas that were once rural now merged with the city. But in this centre, horse-drawn carriages, which served as the main means of transport, soon clogged the streets. By building the world’s first underground railway network in 1860, the city wanted to master the challenge of subways. Just 40 years later, the capital of the British Empire, with its roughly 6.7 million inhabitants, was by far the largest city in the world.

These days, there are more than 500 megacities worldwide. Some megacities boast more than 20 million inhabitants. Half of the world’s population uses just two per cent of the earth’s surface. These roughly 4.2 billion people consume 70 per cent of the world’s energy needs. Nowadays, a network of underground trains is not enough to counteract gridlock and reduce vehicles on the roads and the noise and pollution all that brings. The good news is there are promising trends and solutions for the urban mobility of tomorrow.

5 Trends of the Future

1. E-vehicles: Improving urban mobility with a buzz
2. Mobility on demand: Car sharing instead of ownership
3. Autonomous driving: Let the car do the work
4. Car-to-X communication: When everything communicates with everything and everyone
5. Urban mobility and local public transport

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To find out more on mobility solutions at BMW Group Australia, contact corporate@bmw.com.au.

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