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What does mobility in 2040 look like? How shall we be moving? The innovations of today picture a congestion free future.

Our daily traffic jams and their environmental effects put our mobility under strong pressure. What will this situation eventually lead to? Today, innovations are being developed that will change mobility drastically. In this article we undertake to show what mobility will look like in 2040.

It is the year 2040. The car is still dominant. However, congestion is a thing of the past, it has not occurred for several years. There are a number of reasons for this. For example, the costs of cars have been made completely variable. The use of the road is paid for electronically, with prices varying according to time and place. The busier the road, the higher the price. Before leaving home car drivers can see online what the expected fare will be. The height of the price prevents traffic jams. People may decide to leave later or choose another means of transport.

There are also different types of cars. New are the one or two-person cars for commuting. Highways have two smaller lanes on the left-hand side, reserved for these kinds of individual cars. The introduction of smaller cars in combination with smaller lanes has increased the capacity of roads significantly. For these lanes a reduced rate is charged. Furthermore, vehicles are equipped with sensors, so that the distance to the car in front can be extremely short. These safety systems have allowed the maximum speed to be increased to 150 kms/ h. Finally, flexible work has contributed greatly to solving congestion. Since 2030, flexible working is well established throughout Europe. An average employee works 20% of his working time flexibly. Remote conferencing has acquired an extra dimension through 3D holographic meetings. By means of advanced projection techniques it looks as if all the participants are seated together in a meeting. That is not true. Some are far away. It looks quite real, though. But tangible shaking of hands is an illusion.

Cars are completely electronic devices in 2040. With all the electronic components, driving a car goes largely automatically. Occupants are true ‘auto’ motorists. A licence is not required. The car registers changes in road conditions and detects dangerous objects on the road. All cars are equipped with radar sensors, laser sensors and ultrasound sensors, as required by law. Braking, keeping distance, approaching highways from a slip road and holding the maximum speed, it is all done automatically. Traffic fines are history. Also, parking can be left entirely to the car. The occupant of a car (the former car driver) just enters the final destination into the navigation device, after which the car organises the whole trip itself. Flexible rates, traffic diversions, the car computer processes all information automatically. The result is that the car not only has a transport function, but also a kind of home function. Passengers no longer need to concentrate on the traffic. There is time for matters such as working, reserving a parking space, surfing on the Internet, holding meetings and relaxation. And of course, it is quite simple to request information. Cars communicate with the environment. Side windows also function some kinds of projection screens. If a car passes an attraction, restaurant or shop, the appropriate logo will appear on the window. By touching the logo, occupants will immediately receive information in words and pictures on the window. And they may order. A virtual visit to a museum often provides more instant information than an actual visit. There is wireless communication between vehicles. All obstacles on route, even further away, are detected. The car will anticipate to the unexpected situation. And with the help of the European Galileo navigation system, all cars together can make traffic predictions. The location of each other vehicle is determined to within ten centimetres accurately.

In 2040, the analogue highway is gradually turned into a digital highway. Traffic signs and traffic lights are no longer necessary. Along the roads stations send signals to the passing cars. The internal system of the car receives the information and ‘knows’ what the local speed limit is, which traffic has priority and where it is not allowed to stop or park the car. The highways are self-illuminating. Highways ‘glow’ in the dark. The night time picture has changed dramatically. Street lighting has been greatly reduced. For road safety lights are no longer needed. For social security lighting will be maintained in the city. The lights are LED-powered. Not only do these consume less energy than the previous sodium lights, but the lights can be better focused on the roads with little scatter light.

The hybrid car is definitely past time. Cars run on lightweight lithium-ion batteries, with a 350 kilometres range. Recharging the batteries is mainly done in two ways. The first one is done at home, at night. Houses are built to last and generate energy. They provide electricity for their own use. With the remaining energy, the batteries are charged. The time that you used the service of battery charging stations and parking garages for a fee is over. Several car manufacturers have solar panels integrated into the roofs of their cars, to increase the range of the vehicles. The second way of charging a car is by providing it with an inductive charger. Electric cables lie just beneath the surface of highways. When a radio signal identifies the car, the electricity is transported to the battery of the car. So the battery is charged during the journey. On secondary roads it is not possible to charge ‘on line’. In that case you use only the small battery. The cars are small and have extremely quiet engines. In combination with low-noise asphalt, it is very quiet on the roads. The car wheel is an intelligent part of the car. Here the braking control finds its place. Each wheel can be set in a different angle. Perpendicular parking is possible and that saves parking space.

With a railway system of 200 years old, current public transport is ready for an innovative system. In 2060 the new system will be operational. The work was started a few months ago. The concept is a large circular path of lines in a country with circular grid supply lines. The main grid is outside the big cities. Vehicles float at high speed (250 km/h) above the runway with the help of electromagnets. The vehicles do not stop. Thus the disadvantage of high-speed vehicles on shorter distances is eliminated. The journey starts with a short trip in a vehicle at one of the supply lines. The vehicles of the supply line and of the main line come together at high speed driving. The vehicles will be connected for a short period. As travelers drive, they step from one vehicle onto the other vehicle. If the vehicle on the main grid is near its destination, then the passengers change onto the supply line. In this way, it will be possible to travel very fast over long distances by public transport in a few years' time.

In 2040, the car has been completely banned from large cities. Instead of cars there are automatically controlled electric vehicles. Travelers can call and pay these public vehicles with their mobile communication device. A free vehicle gets to the traveler. Once on board the passenger gives his destination via voice recognition. A central control system responds by commanding the vehicle to follow the designated route. Passengers continue their journey non-stop, via the most suitable route. In rural areas there is a similar system, but less sophisticated. A personal communication set shows for each trip which vehicle is most suitable, based on preferences criteria. For all modes there is an information center that collects, edits and spreads all the basic information on routes, timetables, fares, travel time and facilities among travelers and service providers. Outside the city there are multimodal hubs. Here, individuals can change to one of the electric vehicles or bicycles to go into town. Besides shopping and dining there are meeting and working facilities at these nodes.

The urban areas are free of trucks, except for large-size. Freight is largely transported underground. This is done with unmanned electric vehicles from transfer locations into pipes under the road. The tubes have a diameter of 1.5 meters, allowing standard pallets with goods to go through. The goods are transported at low speed through a network of pipes. The route of each vehicle is pre-programmed, so that it drives independently to its destination. Every vehicle has a spare engine. When the main engine fails, the spare engine drives the vehicle to the next station without blocking the whole system. The constant flow of goods makes the underground system a quick means of transport. Furthermore, it is possible to deliver the goods at any given time. Due to its success there are plans to expand the tubing along the highways.

This mobility picture of 2040 shows two underlying trends. The first trend is that mobility is sustainable. We are part of several societal trends, which ask for radical changes in society. Examples of trends include the increasing energy demand, increasing environmental awareness, the ubiquitous information technology, individual lifestyles and greater pressure on the environment. These trends lead to a network of sustainable transport modes in which various modes have their own place. In the second trend virtual mobility overhauls the physical mobility. In short, we are approaching a time without traffic jams and with sustainable, and especially virtual mobility. The future is bright.

future, 2040, mobility, innovation, innovative, congestion, traffic, trend

Last updated 167 days ago by Frederike Demmers