Autonomous transport services: three questions for VEDECOM Project Manager Nadège Faul

You just spoke at ITS Copenhagen about the challenges of autonomous services for the public transport of the future. What is the outlook for the overall organisation of mobility?
More crossover between collective and individual mobility are expected in the coming years with the arrival of autonomous transport services. If people are satisfied with these services, they may start using autonomous vehicles on a massive scale. One of our goals in VEDECOM is to promote shared rather than individual mobility. Another is to ensure that the service of the last mile will meet the user expectations and encourage new mobility behaviors.

What is the economic impact on transport players?
Currently, transport services are barely profitable and highly subsidized. Our challenge is to switch into a profitable business model. The main impact of these new services will be on the size and type of fleets, their efficiency and the emergence of new services on the value chain. Therefore, all the stakeholders will have to participate in shared governance.

What about public policy?
Car-sharing does not happen spontaneously. It necessarily requires public incentives. Furthermore, governments will have to facilitate fleet supervision by building infrastructure such as car parks, communicating traffic lights or traffic/autonomous vehicles control centers. Only public authorities is able to promote such an new ecosystem.