The Blue Ocean Awards, inspired by the Blue Ocean Strategy – the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand – took place yesterday. Michelin is the event’s major sponsor as well as sponsor for an awards category. Michelin presented its International Mobility Award to Tarmac Technologies and SUN Mobility, two start-ups that are contributing to the development of mobility.
The growing emergence of mobility services over the coming years will create demand for a whole new range of mobility services, says the Vehicle Remarketing Association.
Bridgestone has launched a new e-bikes subscription service. Mobeflex will be available in several major French cities. The tyre giant said that the move acknowledges both the changing megatrends in how people travel in urban areas, promoting affordable and environmentally friendly smart city mobility.
Up to 10 local authorities could be planning to introduce workplace charging levies, which could cost employees up to £1,000 per year to park at work. According to The AA, Hounslow Council is proposing to introduce a charge between £500 and £1,000 and nine other councils are considering similar measures. The schemes are designed to reduce inner-city emissions and improve air quality by discouraging drivers from using their car to get to work.
Bridgestone Europe NV, Bridgestone’s EMEA subsidiary and Iris Capital, a leading European venture capital firm, have entered a corporate venture partnership to investigate and invest in innovative new mobility services, industry 4.0 and digital transformation technologies across Europe, the Middle-East and Africa.
A wave of electric cargo bikes, vans, quadricycles and micro vehicles could replace vans in UK cities as part of plans to transform last-mile deliveries, vastly reducing emissions and congestion around the country.
Continental has presented two new tyre technology concepts to increase road safety and comfort: ContiSense and ContiAdapt. The two systems enable continuous tyre condition monitoring and situation-matched adaptation of tyre performance characteristics to prevailing road conditions. Both technologies made their public debut at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA).
Ricardo has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Future Mobility Corporation to provide engineering support in the development of a family of state-of-the-art electric vehicles, aimed at offering affordable quality and performance to customers in Asia, North America and Europe.
In order to increase its activities in the new mobility services market, Continental has signed a strategic joint venture contract with China Unicom Smart Connection (CUSC), an end-to-end service and operations provider for the connected car market and fully owned subsidiary of mobile network operator China Unicom. The contract was signed on 19 April and creates a joint venture that, in Continental’s words, “aims to establish and operate as a world class ITS solution provider to satisfy the increasing market demands in China.”
A new research and development centre that Continental opened in Silicon Valley yesterday will focus on future mobility solutions such as automated driving, electromobility, connectivity and mobility services. The 6,000-square metre facility in San José, California offers a working environment for up to 300 experts from all parts of the company.
Global management consultancy Arthur D. Little (ADL) has released a new study, “The Future of Automotive Mobility.” Based on a global survey of 6,500 participants, including customers, industry players and regulators, the report examines how the megatrends of electric mobility, car sharing and autonomous driving are likely to impact on the global automotive ecosystem and future OEM sales.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has published its position on the Low Emission Mobility Strategy made public by the European Commission last July. The ETRMA position document can be read here.
Blocking the road (42 per cent), verbal aggression (34 per cent) and aggressive gestures (56 per cent) are among the top threatening behaviours motorists around the world experience while driving, according to 2016’s MobilityMonitor Survey from LeasePlan.
Goodyear has unveiled its latest concept tyre, the Eagle-360, and it’s one of the more radical departures from traditional tyre design; it is a sphere. The 3-D printed model presents a long-term vision of future mobility, in which autonomous driving is expected to be more mainstream. Goodyear’s video demonstrating its vision of the Eagle-360’s place in the future of autonomous mobility is embedded in the full article.
According to the latest research from Ubeeqo, the mobility app, Londoners are wasting thousands of pounds each year on buying, taxing, maintaining, insuring and parking cars they hardly use, as they do not want to solely rely on public transport. “Londoners seem to be hostage to car ownership” said Benoit Chatelier, founder and CEO of Ubeeqo.
