Aditya Pathak
Throughout history, technological advancements and mobility have been mutually reinforcing. As we look forward to the Autonomous e-Mobility Forum in Qatar, we reflect on the trajectory of mobility over the last millennia. From the simplicity of footways to the complexity of electric mobility and interconnected transportation systems, each era has left its mark on where we stand today.
This is the second of a three-part series (first part), which sheds light on the evolution of mobility through distinct periods: ancient history, the industrial age, leading up to current technologies, and the era of AI and driverless e-Mobility.
Before the Industrial Revolution, transportation advances primarily focused on enhancing ships’ strength and speed. Land mobility improved with bridge and road construction, the streets of Baghdad being the first to be paved with tar in the 7th century. Despite such improvements, land transport remained limited by animals’ speed that still were the only motive force. Improving travel accuracy, the invention of the Kamal in the Arab world enabled latitude navigation, while the compass, invented in 1044 in China, improved navigation on both land and sea.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, significant investments funded voyages to discover new trade routes and territories, leading to the development of the first accurate world maps, such as the Mercator map of 1569. Maritime navigation advancements led to the development of global trade routes with profound impact, as mercantilism evolved into imperialism in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century
The Industrial Revolution sparked mobility transformation, with the early phases continuing the reliance on water transport. “Canal Mania” in the UK saw the construction of over 4000 miles of canals from 1790-1810 to enable quicker and cheaper transportation of goods.
James Watt’s new design of the steam engine that increased the efficiency of the steam engine originally developed for use in textile factories, unleashed the era of “engine” powered mobility in the early 19th century. Steam-powered ships and locomotives dramatically increased the speed of travel with modes covering up to 30 miles an hour. Such a profound shift was not immediately embraced as there was initial concern among the populace that the human body was not built to withstand such speeds.
UK policy makers nevertheless continued introducing initiatives, such as the compulsory purchase of land for railway tracks and large investments to the tune of 20% of their GDP, approximately $4 trillion in today’s dollars, to build a rail ecosystem. As rail transport became the backbone of economic activity, the UK’s GDP per capita became the highest in the world, and those initially apprehensive, gradually made rail travel a way of life.
Mobility innovation in the 19th and 20th Centuries
The invention of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) by Germany’s Karl Benz in 1880 heralded the era of personal mobility and the birth of the automobile. While production took off in Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a quantum leap came through Henry Ford, who pioneered the modern assembly line and turbo-charged the industry’s economics by offering wages that enabled the workforce to buy the vehicles they built. Ford’s approach transformed society, ushering in unprecedented growth for automakers and several spin-off industries.
The explosion of vehicle sales prompted infrastructure development, with the US heavily investing in highways, bridges, and tunnels. US GDP grew by more than 100%, making it the economic superpower. Today, the automotive sector contributes 3-3.5% to US GDP, the corresponding ecosystem contributes 5%. Worldwide, the automotive sector is one of the largest employers. At 7%, it is an even bigger contributor to the GDP of the EU.
Drawing parallels
Technological innovations over the past century have enhanced vehicles’ cost, efficiency, safety, and sustainability. The pursuit of autonomous vehicles, which began in the 1940s, has gained momentum in recent decades. The DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and other follow-on competitions catalyzed academia, industry, and governments to focus on solving autonomous driving challenges in real-world settings. The latest advances in IT, cameras, sensors, and controllers enable vehicles to be data centres on wheels, with today’s average car featuring more computing power than the Apollo 11 spaceship that went to the moon.
As we look back at the various phases of mobility, we see striking parallels in terms of user anxiety, government initiatives, investments, and economic growth, similar to what we are currently experiencing. The anticipated benefits of this ongoing transformation will disrupt existing norms at an inconceivable scale because, just like in the past, the commerce of the future will be carried on the back of a new era’s mobility ecosystem.
In the third and final article in this series, we will examine the future dimensions of mobility, the challenges that lie ahead, and the issues that must be resolved to realize the full potential of autonomous e-mobility.
The Autonomous e-Mobility Forum, taking place in Doha, Qatar from April 30 to May 02, 2024, hosted and strategically partnered by the Ministry of Transport of the State of Qatar and held under the patronage of Minister of Transport H E Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, is set to become the pioneering multilateral platform focusing on driverless e-mobility, a topic of global significance and urgency
Organised by Just us & Otto Marketing & Event Services in collaboration with InStrat, a Department of 4th Dimension, the three-day event will provide a timely occasion for international stakeholders to further know-how and develop recommendations toward the implementation of autonomous e-mobility in a real-world setting.
*Aditya Pathak is the head of Automotive, Transportation and Logistics at Cognizant, a multinational information technology and consulting company, headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Aditya Pathak is the head of Automotive, Transportation and Logistics at Cognizant, a multinational information technology and consulting company, headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.
