Winning the Mobility Race

Innovations in digital technologies, lightweight materials, sustainable energy sources, and social trends like carsharing and ridesharing are converging to create an unprecedented level of connected and, eventually, autonomous mobility solutions that will revolutionize personal transportation. This innovation is ushering in a new ecosystem of mobility experiences, which will potentially play a much bigger role than brands when it comes to determining who wins the race to dominate mobility markets. Digitalization offers a seamless platform of services to provide mobility on demand, such as Uber. Vehicle manufacturers like Ford, Tesla, and Mercedes-Benz are adding smart product functionality to their cars while seeking business models that turn their smart products into services. The future of mobility depends on a congruence of technology and digitalization on a platform, seamlessly integrating safety, energy, data processing, decision making, and real-time cloud connectivity with infrastructure and on-demand services. Success in launching digital mobility experiences requires integrating digital mobility products and services; capturing and analyzing personal data using digital replicas (twins); getting data privacy and data governance right; and the balancing of personalization and the centralization of the value proposition to create economies of scale. Challenges include policy and technology uncertainty, value chain complexity, infrastructure needs, and regulatory standards and acceptance.