Autonomous Vehicles will be here in a few years (except the fact that it is illegal may car can drive itself in a traffic jam – up to 30 KM/H, can park itself and can maintain course and speed and distance on an open road), and it doesn’t really matter if this is going to take 5 years or 10 years. The next generation will not drive, and as a result they will NOT OWN a car, they will be buying service (mileage, time of use, rides).
Once we realize the future is about buying service, we ask ourselves who understands the demand for that service, and the market leader in this space is Moovit. But there is more to it. What’s the relationship between AV (autonomous Vehicle) service and public transportation and what’s the role of the municipality in that sense? And the future becomes pretty clear – the municipality owns not just the public transportation network also the road network and they will set the rules, measure the results and operate (directly or in-directly) the mobility services of the metropolitan area where AV is just a part of it.
There is a reason why they are going to set the rules, not because they like it, because there is no choice, if we all agree than AV shall lead into change in the behaviour of the consumers, and we the riders shall use mobility as a service more than buying cars, then the result will be simple – number of cars will decrease dramatically (so if you’re selling cars, or selling car insurance, or selling driving lessons – you do have a problem) and the usage (mileage) will be increasing dramatically. The result of increased mileage is very simple – more traffic jams even more severe than today and therefore the municipality will need to get involved and set their own destiny by defining the rules of usage (e.g. between 6-10 a.m only cars with 3 passengers can travel, or all 2 lanes roads are for public transportation only) and measuring the usage and re-calibrating that system. This is exactly what Moovit can do for them, and this is why Moovit will play a major role in the future of Urban Mobility. The fact that Moovit is global with more than 2,000 cities that are being supported – they can do that on a global scale.