IFA International 2019 Day 5 Edition

BOYD COHEN SHARES
MOBILITY VISION AT SHIFT
AUTOMOTIVE
Urban strategist explores how the Internet of Mobility can
support a transition away from single-occupied vehicle
dependence in cities
Boyd Cohen is an urban strategist focused on the areas of urban
innovation, entrepreneurship, smart cities and the Internet of Mobility.
A Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, Cohen will
deliver a keynote talk at IFA’s future mobility event SHIFT Automotive
today. IFA International caught up with him ahead of the keynote and
started by asking him about iomob, a start-up he co-founded in 2017.
Iomob stands for the Internet of Mobility. If
IoT (Internet of Things) is about how devices
in cities or elsewhere can be connected
to the Internet, and then to each other to
seamlessly connect things, the Internet of
Mobility, or Iomob, is a company focused
on providing the enabling infrastructure so
that mobility devices (scooters, bikes, cars,
trains, buses etc) can be connected to the
Iomob protocol and then to each other to
enable seamless mobility for users around
the globe.
Can you tell us about the key themes of
your presentation at SHIFT?
I will highlight where I believe the future
of mobility is going. I will also explore the
role of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and
the Internet of Mobility in supporting
a transition away from single-occupied
passenger vehicle dependence in cities.
How do you see the future of mobility?
I believe this will vary greatly around the
globe. In North America, we will likely see
an acceleration of ride hailing services
and autonomous passenger vehicles. In
Europe, I believe we will continue to see
an explosion in micro-mobility and shared
mobility and in cities erecting barriers
to single occupancy vehicles. In Europe,
autonomous will be about multi-passenger
liquid bus experiences. This explosion in
services will require new infrastructure (for
charging, for dedicated lanes that separate
pedestrians, people powered micromobility
and motorised micro-mobility) and
of course drive demand and use of seamless
MaaS services that can roam with the user.
Who should come to your talk?
Anyone interested in understanding
the present and future of MaaS, how
passenger vehicles might shift towards
becoming liquid parts of a seamless mobility
ecosystem, and the role of micro-mobility.
Why is it important to have a conference
like SHIFT?
The automobile industry has played a
significant role in the history of personal
freedom and economic wellbeing. The
industry is being challenged to rethink its
role in light of climate change, congestion
and general trends in urbanism and shifting
consumer values on access, ownership and
quality of life. Shift Automotive aims to
bring these tensions to the forefront and
provide a vision of the role automobiles and
other mobility devices will play in the future
of cities.
You have written a white paper entitled
The Future of Urban and Regional Mobility.
Can you share part of its message?
Traffic congestion costs more than
$300bn to the US economy annually and
reduces quality of life. Emissions from
transportation in the EU represent 25% of
Green House Gas emissions in the region.
Furthermore, the car-dependent suburban
life has exacerbated obesity while air
contamination leads to five million deaths
worldwide annually. At iomob, we believe
that cities need to embrace experimentation
while regulators can catch up to the pace of
innovation and understand the implications
of new mobility solutions
FUTURE MOBILITY AS AN OPEN
GLOBAL MARKETPLACE
Date: Tuesday, 10 September
Time: 11:05 am
Location: Hall 26b - GRAND THEATER
Boyd Cohen
CEO, Iomob
THE INDUSTRY
IS BEING CHALLENGED
TO RETHINK ITS ROLE
IN LIGHT OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Tuesday 10 September 2019
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