Riding the next wave of mobility disruption: five key figures

Technological disruption, a deluge of data and the application of robotic software have all combined to create huge opportunity in the world of mobility. Drawing on the insight shared in the third series of our Reinventing the wheel campaign, below are some key figures illustrating what the road ahead for mobility looks like – for those who use it and those who deliver it. 

5G promises a new mobility era

Some 500 million connected cars will be on the road by 2025 and connected vehicle services are likely to be worth tens of billions of dollars by 2030. 

5G represents a great leap forward in connectivity and mobility: the fast and reliable dataflows it provides can support self-driving cars, smart cities, and fully connected streets and vehicles. It also offers improved connection density, which is essential for the development of Internet of Things (IoT) services - in which embedded sensors and transmitters allow objects to communicate with one another.

This could make mobility more sustainable as well as smarter. Bosch estimates that connected cars could avoid nearly 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2025 – the equivalent of a year’s emissions from 45,000 homes – thanks mainly to efficiencies in fuel use from avoiding long parking space searches and fuel-inefficient habits. They could also make driving safer, preventing accidents and saving lives.  

How data reshapes last mile delivery

The share of people in the UK, France, and Germany who did more than half of their shopping online grew up to 80% in 2020. Some 8 in 10 consumers intend to carry on buying as much online once the pandemic has passed.

As the 2020 uptick in pressure on logistics firms looks set to turn into a permanent increase, logistic companies are experimenting with data, drones and new business models to meet rising delivery volumes, customer demand and calls for reduced emissions.

Kevin Le Denic, Partner, Mazars says it’s ‘crucial’ for firms to get the last mile of the delivery process right. Known for being the most challenging, complicated, and competitive part of getting a package to the doorstep – in some cases accounting for more than 50% of the costs – find out what firms can do, here.

Avoid the deluge: mobility and making the most of data

The average commercial aircraft creates 20 terabytes (or 20,000 GB) of engine information per hour.

“The potential to capture data has been enhanced immensely in recent years, web and mobile channels are performing processes while collecting information, and hardware in cars and aircraft are doing the same,” says Abhijit Pal, Partner, Mazars, “the result is a deluge of data.”

Data may promise to help mobility fly in 2021 but businesses need to ensure they can ably collect, analyse and act on the information so they avoid getting slowed down by the deluge. To do that, firms from across the mobility spectrum need to invest in smart data storage and create and use datasets found in ‘data lakes’ – where the unrefined information can provide a fertile source for data scientists looking for fresh innovation.

The robotic software revolution and mobility

Digitalisation in logistics could unlock $1.5 trillion of value for logistics players and a further $2.4 trillion worth of societal benefits by 2025.

Software robotics – part of this promising digitalisation – are helping companies streamline processes, cut costs, and free up employees to focus on higher value tasks. Today they are increasingly applied to support back office processes and enable more operational and front-office tasks. “Logistics companies get a lot of inquiries,” says Marc Engel, Partner, Mazars. “Where is my package? When does it arrive? Can I return it? A large express company used to have people answering these emails in person, but they noted that 80% of inquiries were pretty much the same.” By using chatbots to handle these kinds of similar inquiries, it frees up human customer service agents to provide better service for more complicated issues.  

In the years to come, software robotics are likely to go from streamlining back office functions to enabling totally new forms of mobility. 

How to make future transport a reality

Hydrogen propulsion could reduce the environmental impact of planes by 75 to 90% – the Airbus ZEROe has a target to achieve this by 2035.

As the mobility universe experiments with transport up in the air and on the ground, businesses and policymakers need to create customer demand, answer critical safety questions and take the small steps that make the big leaps possible.

Perhaps most importantly, new modes of transport offer an opportunity for cleaner air and improved wellbeing: “Carbon-free modes of transport are likely to improve overall health as well as being better for the environment. A more efficient mobility ecosystem means less traffic, stress, noise and danger,” says Olivier Guillot, Partner, Mazars.

To find out more about technological disruption in mobility, and how businesses can manage it to deliver smart, sustainable solutions, see series three of Reinventing the wheel here. To explore what’s driving change across all aspects of mobility, see below.