Tracking Smart Mobility progress in Cities

Frost & Sullivan created an interactive map to track smart mobility progress of 100 cities, based on its data-driven study. Here are some key findings. 

The study

The Smart Mobility City Tracker of F&S tracks more than 150 parameters across all aspects of smart mobility in 100 cities. These parameters are clustered along various channels: new mobility solutions, autonomous readiness, digitisation, sustainability, logistics performance, policy and regulatory framework, and transport landscape and vision.

Key findings – Where are we now?

• The top five smart mobility cities considering vision and strategy are Singapore, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. Helsinki, Boston, Los Angeles, Hamburg, and Paris close the top 10.
• Of the top 25, half are located in Europe, which F&S explains by the region’s commitment to green technology and integrated transport options.
• 9 other cities of the top 25 are located in the US. North American cities are cited as having an advantage in the early testing and roll-out of sustainable and autonomous vehicles thanks to its advanced infrastructure and legislation. 
• 4 cities of the top 25 are located in Asia Pacific, advantaged in their stringent car ownership, parking policies and efficient public transport. 
• The deployment of autonomous vehicles in shared modes, such as autonomous shuttles and taxis, is more likely in advanced Asia-Pacific cities such as Singapore and Tokyo, according to the study, and in advanced European cities such as Helsinki, Zurich, Paris and London.
• So, not surprisingly, both Amsterdam and Hong Kong stood out as cities with a high share of sustainable transport modes.
• Dividing the cities in four categories, the study shows that:
  • Amsterdam, Los Angeles, London and Helsinki are marked as innovative cities.
  • Barcelona, Copenhagen, Manchester and Sydney are called dynamic cities.
  • Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and Kobe are considered as proactive cities. 
  • Cape Town, Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City are passive cities. 
• However, when it comes to sustainability, the study highlights that several high-income Middle Eastern cities still use petrol- and diesel-powered cars for 80 to 90% of all journeys.

Key findings – What can the future bring? 

• Yet, the study found that none of the cities achieved a score that would qualify them to be called innovative or leaders in all aspects of smart mobility solutions, despite ranking the before-mentioned cities as innovators. 
• Therefore, the study emphasises the enormous untapped potential, and the study aims to help cities with exploring and optimising this potential. 
• Strategic public-private collaborations are called as a key element in order to drive innovative mobility models considering operating models, car usage, multimodal journey planning and payment options. 
• In addition, the study underlines the importance of shared mobility in cities. Shared mobility can increase the vehicle utilisation rate ad occupancy rate, resulting in decreased traffic congestion and freeing up on-street parking space. 
• The study emphasises the relevance of autonomous vehicles to increase road safety and decrease travel costs by decreasing congestion and replacing human drivers. 

Rapid urbanisation, vehicle density, ageing infrastructure and transportation-related emissions put urban mobility ecosystems globally under pressure. Solving these issues increases the need for smart mobility solutions, hence having leading and/or innovative cities are needed to show others the way towards solving the global mobility questions.