In the past 20 years, there has been a drastic change in the way consumers, regulators and city planners think about mobility. Environmental concerns, congestion, increased availability of new, flexible and shared modes of transport have contributed to the latest thinking in terms of how mobility should support sustainable urbanization. Mobility plays a major role in how society will function in the future; decentralized platforms built on blockchain can provide the way forward. The business consultancy Orange recently published a new white paper, where our CTO Harry Behrens contributed:
The urban mobility space is fragmented and with little strategic direction. Mobility choice in cities is increasing thanks to new modes of transportation such as car-sharing and e-scooter services, enabled by mobility apps, but complexity is increasing. Non-transferable tickets on public transport, costly repeated sign-in processes and the lack of interoperability have created an inefficient and unsustainable service landscape.
On the other side of the equation, mobility companies struggle as well. Mobility services providers and fleet operators suffer from low vehicle utilization, inefficient remarketing, and challenges to expand the service offering outside of high-density populated urban areas.
There is a vast opportunity in the field of urban mobility as it is at the center of society’s development. Two strong trends are affecting vehicle ownership and building momentum towards pay-per-use mobility as a service.
First is that the traditional consumer-owned vehicle may no longer be fit for purpose. A typical personal vehicle is parked and unused most of the time, which is a considerable expense for most households on something that doesn’t get used all that much.
Second, more and more cities are discouraging car use by reducing parking, pedestrian-only areas, and restrictions for combustion engine vehicles. They are also placing greater emphasis on electrification and carbon-neutral transportation where possible. Cities are continuing to grow, and the UN has predicted that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. As a result, urban mobility will become more important, and year on year, more people will rely on public and shared transport and less on car ownership.
As we mention in the whitepaper “The Mobility Blockchain Platform – A blueprint for the future of mobility,” written in cooperation with bloXmove and Ciklum, we believe the future of mobility lies in a decentralized ecosystem where mobility providers, smart cities and fintech companies cooperate in delivering mobility services over software platforms and based on a pay-per-use business model.
Decentralized, open and cooperative systems offer many benefits compared to existing, centralized platforms controlled by a single owner. An open ecosystem benefits all participants. Customers enjoy a seamless journey and transparent billing. Service providers get better utilization and broader reach for their offerings and efficient revenue distribution and real-time settlement of liabilities. Furthermore, service providers can monetize their data to develop new products for insurance, credit or finance.
Blockchain ecosystems, like bloXmove, open a world of opportunities for mobility providers to cooperate on urban mobility developments with the goal of satisfying customer demands at lower financial risk while achieving sustainability goals. Ultimately, this will lead to a more human-friendly city model, where companies can flexibly co-innovate without relying on centralized service aggregators.
Read the full paper here: Mobility Whitepaper_June21_bloXmove
Dr. Harry Behrens, Current Founder and CTO of bloXmove; Former Founder of the Daimler Mobility Blockchain Factory
Mariya Davydenko, Business Development Director at Ciklum
Miguel Munoz De Morales, Head of Consulting, Germany and Austria, Orange Business Services, Advisor for bloXmove
