Seamless integration must for autonomous transport

Dubai - Biggest challenge right now is to show people that they need mobility as a service

While the future of autonomous transport is something that lots of city residents will be excited about, experts at the recent Gitex Technology Week exhibition said that there are still plenty of challenges that need to be overcome.
"Rail systems are leading the revolution towards autonomous transport systems. However, if you look at many cities today, there is a mix of different modes of transportation that are available to residents; these range from buses, taxis, and metros. What will be important is to have seamless integration between these different modes of transportation so that commuting can be easier for residents," said Alexander Biron von Curland, head of regional mobility at Siemens.
Frank Noppel, chief executive officer of Flugauto, noted that the push towards adopting autonomous transportation will start from cargo.
"Cargo won't complain if it is stuck in traffic in the testing stage, and obviously it is safer to test," he added.
Bruno Vasconcelos Maia, head of office and deputy mayor for mobility and security at Lisbon Muncipality, stressed that it was important to keep logistics in mind and to incentivise public transport systems.
"The biggest challenge right now is to show people that they need mobility as a service, and that it is good and cheaper for them to use," he said.
"This is where regulations will come in. Residents are far more willing to use transport systems that make travelling easier. What we can have is an autonomous transport system that is seamless, and which won't be burdened by various things such as red lights on the roads."
He also added that it was necessary to expand the network to operate not just in big cities, but also across smaller towns as well. This would help people that were commuting from longer distances for their work.
Von Curland said that the biggest challenges that remained in making countrywide autonomous systems a reality were in passenger safety, large-scale capacity, and ready availability of backups. One issue that is already being solved by many cities across the world today has to do with removing commercial vehicles from the road during peak hours.
"We have cases where cities are using their public transport systems to carry cargo after hours," he said.
"Many commercial vehicles usually end up clogging roads, and this is a great way to make the most of the infrastructure and solve the issue at hand."
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com