Future Mobility Services in the UK report
We often talk about the “future of mobility” without acknowledging how open-ended this phrase is. It is difficult to picture what it will look like in 15, never mind 50 years’ time. It is unlikely to be a fixed end-point, and we are likely to see continuous development in the mobility sector as the tech industry drives and supports innovation for mobility services.
While there is much we cannot be sure of, what we do know is that the future of mobility services will be a truly multimodal, digitally-enabled, customer-focused ecosystem, incorporating fixed and flexible infrastructure, private and publicly operated services and a multitude of vehicles, some of which are beyond what we can imagine today.
techUK has developed a vision for this future in the UK in its new report The Future of Mobility, launched on 18 October 2018 at its flagship conference Supercharging the Digital Economy in Manchester.
The report can be drawn upon by the Government and private sector alike. Accompanying this it identifies key technologies that will enable progress towards a digitally-enabled, customer-focused mobility ecosystem, as well as barriers that risk stagnation. techUK also provides three key recommendations to overcome these key barriers and support evolution of the nation’s mobility services.
The recommendations are:
- The development of a vision that sets out the characteristics of future mobility services. This needs to be led by central government, drawing on the contributions of external organisations.
- Wide-ranging and in-depth reviews of regulation and legislation from central government. Integration and implementation of new technologies and services will remain stagnant until these barriers are addressed.
- Local authorities need to demonstrate consideration of their role in facilitating future mobility services.
techUK is excited to be able to share this vision, and stand ready to support policy-makers, decision-makers, service providers and innovators by delivering a vision that provides clarity and a sense of prioritisation for the integration of technology.
In support of the report Julian David, CEO, techUK said:
“This report is techUK’s contribution to the development of a flexible, ambitious vision for the future of mobility in the UK. It is impossible to predict exactly what our mobility services will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years. But that’s ok; we need a vision to start working towards today, to ensure that we have the foundations in place for the future. Failure to start working towards this vision and getting these building blocks in place would mean that the UK will miss out on a golden opportunity to fundamentally improve how we move people and goods around. UK PLC could also miss out on capturing a share of the global market which is already worth over £34 billion for shared mobility alone. We look forward to working with our members, government and local authority stakeholders and striding together towards this exciting future”
Natalie Trainor, Partner, Pinsent Masons and Chair of SmarterUK Transport Steering Board said:
"Future mobility services offer significant opportunities for the UK both in terms of industry and citizen benefits. The SmarterUK Transport Group are proud to present a vision for the future of mobility services in the UK. We recognise that this vision will flex and evolve over time, but it is imperative that we start work now. By identifying expectations, enablers and barriers, and bringing together traditional and non-traditional actors in the mobility services sector, we can start to address the key challenges and unlock the potential opportunities. Industry clearly has a critical role here, but we also need key decision-makers and policy-makers to also push this agenda forward.
We look forward to building on this report and playing our part to ultimately deliver a “digitally-enabled, interoperable, integrated and inclusive transport network that connects our citizens with multiple modes of transport services that can offer door-to-door convenience, respond to dynamic pressures of demand, and cater to the specified needs of the citizen within the locality”.
