The real-time city: Unlocking the potential of smart mobility

Cities around the world are increasingly becoming a complex network of systems that are instrumented and interconnected. An 'Internet of Things' comprising sensors and mobile devices all communicating with each other in real-time to enhance urban life and improve productivity and resilience. In transport, the convergence of physical and digital worlds is creating unprecedented opportunities to enhance the travel experience for millions of people and businesses every day. Disruptive and emerging forces - including automated self-driving, on-demand shared mobility and big data analytics are expected to change the mobility landscape and provide travellers with more choices to meet their travel needs while reducing reliance on building additional infrastructure. The coming together of these trends is providing new opportunities to 'sense the city' and unlock operational innovations and access to high-quality urban mobility. Through data mining, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, smart mobility systems can help city managers monitor the performance of vital infrastructure, identify key areas where city services are lagging, and inform decision makers on how to manage city growth. This paper describes how digital innovations are providing opportunities to enable real-time measurement and analysis of urban mobility. The paper draws on practical applications, case studies and modelling results, and describes the major behavioural and technological changes, and the new mobility business models that would be required to achieve the desired targets and outcomes. The paper also discusses the implications of emerging mobility solutions such as 'vehicle autonomy' and 'autonomous shared mobility-on-demand'. Finally, the paper provides a critical reflection on the value derived from typical smart mobility 'use cases' and identifies the policy principles which are central to the success of smart mobility.