The Future of Autonomous Smart Mobility in Microtransit

Smart mobility refers to using modes of transportation alongside or even instead of owning a gas-powered vehicle. This can take on many different forms, including ride-sharing, car-sharing, public transportation, walking, biking, and more. The need for smart mobility arose out of increasing traffic congestion and its related side effects, including pollution, fatalities, and wasted time. 

The concept of transportation can be boiled down to two parts: individually-owned cars and public transportation systems. The car has transformed cities and the way we live. As urbanization and populations have increased, road traffic has become a huge problem in cities across the world. The concept of smart mobility includes a wide range of modes of transportation: kick scooters, bicycles (regular, electric, foldable), buses, light rail trains, subways, streetcars, taxis, autonomous vehicles, walking and the list is growing. In other words, users have the option to own or share. The bottom line is that smart mobility is built on the following principles:

Flexibility: Multiple modes of transportation allow users to choose which ones work best for a given situation. 

Efficiency: The trip gets the traveler to their destination with minimal disruption and in as little time as possible.

Integration: The full route is planned door-to-door, regardless of which modes of transportation are used. 

Clean Technology: Transportation moves away from pollution-causing vehicles to zero-emission ones. 

Safety: Fatalities and injuries are drastically reduced. 

Smart mobility can integrate autonomous vehicles or driverless or self-driving car, creating a new concept of cars. Ultimately, this technology is capable of reading and sensing the environment and operates without human input. Currently, many major players are contributing in the development of semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles.