SHIFT Mobility and pressrelations released on March 30 the results of a comprehensive study on the megatrends in Future Mobility to an exclusive audience at Berlin’s famous Borchardt. The study, ‘MIND-SHIFT: A Compendium on Future Mobility, Circularity and New Urbanism’ took place over a six-month period and focused its in-depth research on both English and German-language lead media data.

The public release comes after much trepidation in the industry, as it points to possible new developments and solutions in the mobility of the future, which currently faces some significant challenges. The study is divided into five trend themes: E-mobility, Software & In-Car-Tech, Mobility & Sustainability, New Urbanism and Logistics. The selection criteria for each individual topic relied on three key elements: high media awareness, new perspectives and newness.

“We centred our research program FirstSignals® on the systematic way for early recognition of future trends which opened up our analytic focus to totally new connectivities and developments, making it possible for us to recognize innovative and new dynamic perspectives.” Oliver Heyden, Chief Strategic Officer pressrelations

 
One of the most gripping points of the study was the whopping 800% media coverage increase in the field of mobility in digitization in the past year.

Under the e-mobility trend, a significant finding was that the challenges surrounding charging infrastructure remain central to the question of mobility, specifically due to the explosive growth of the e-mobility market and cities’ struggles to adapt to such a booming demand. In software and in-car tech, infotainment was the main point of interest, putting old competitors against the “dangerous” new competitors Sony and Apple. In mobility & sustainability, circularity concepts such as cradle-to-cradle, as well as supply chain issues were among the highest trending topics, unsurprisingly after the COVID-19-related supply chain issues in the last two years.

In new urbanism, three urban planning paradigms seemed to be of major interest: the smart city, the livable city and climate adaptation strategies. The first is a known concept by now, still offering many promising possibilities, but the second seems to be more of a recent development, referring to people’s desire to move to the countryside and therefore shedding light on the need for cities to become more livable. The third and perhaps most important, is of course about strategies to protect cities and its inhabitants against issues such as overheating. Interestingly, the study finds that although these approaches go hand in hand, few consider them in a holistic way, which is arguably the only way forward. Lastly, in terms of logistics, the two major trending topics were quick commerce and the instant economy, with the burst of micro-depots and pick-up stations – the study concludes that cargo bikes and delivery robots will be the future of logistics.

“Inspiration and new ideas are mostly found at the interface where industries overlap and cross-pollinate, and so turn into a kind of a breeding ground for innovation. That is why we are looking at the entirety of the mobility ecosystem in the study, and that is why that interconnectivity is becoming such a seismograph for future developments in mobility.” – Dr. Hans Hamer, CEO SHIFT Mobility

 
Effectively, this study is a signal to businesses, politicians and the public of the importance of a holistic approach when it comes to the complex challenges we will face in the future of mobility – and that it is the only way forward.