Communications technology to be a 'huge disruptive force' in determining how we move in future cities
Sat 27 June 2015
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Speaking at the reception following the LowCVP's Annual Conference, former Conservative MP Dan Byles predicted that information and communications technology will be a huge, positive and disruptive force in determining mobility patterns in cities of the future. Byles cited the taxi connection service Uber as a precursor of future potentially dramatic shifts in the way we move around urban areas.
The former Chair of the Parliamentary All Party Smart Cities Group, Mr Byles said that around 90% of private vehicles are, at any one time, parked in our urban areas contributing to congestion and otherwise taking away scarce space. Technology, he said, can provide ways for us to use the mobility options that currently exist much for effectively and efficiently.
A former soldier and adventurer, Dan Byles recently announced that he is joining Living PlanIT a company which he says is at the forefront of harnessing the power of technology, people and creativity to drive real innovation in the design and functionality of future sustainable cities.
Similar themes were raised at the recent International Transport Forum, which was held in Leipzig. As William Todts of the environmental NGO T&E commented in his website blog: "Transport is not the most innovative of sectors so when the top people of Uber, Google, Nokia, Zipcar and BlaBlaCar got together at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig last week, there was an air of excitement.
"The picture they painted was of a radically different transport system, revolutionized by the internet, mobile phones and autonomous, electric driving. What this could mean for people was captured well by Philippe Crist from the OECD. He estimates the advent of the digital age could reduce the number of cars by an eye-popping 90% in urban areas."
Todts argues that BlaBlaCar and Zipcar have already convinced millions of people to share (their personal) vehicles and now Uber and others are developing carpooling apps that have the potential to completely upset city mobility.
He contends that autonomous and electric vehicles would only accelerate this trend. "It all sounds radical but in essence it’s just a matter of leveraging what Robin Chase from Zipcar called the ‘most underused asset in the world’."
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