Research pushes the future towards a global zero-impact challenge by increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence. The latest frontier of intelligent sustainability aims to combine smart mobility and environmental sustainability through the automation of classic processes, such as driving a car. For years, the biggest car manufacturers and the entire automotive industry have been investing millions of dollars to produce self-driving cars.

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

The term ‘autonomous driving’ refers to vehicles that are able to detect their environment, interact with it safely and arrive at their destination without the need for a human driver.

Driver automation technologies represent a significant area of interest and investment for the automotive industry globally. With their enormous innovative potential, and the expected beneficial effects on safety, efficiency and access for all to individual mobility, automated guided vehicles can rightly be considered the means of transport of the future. The development of such vehicles could prove to be the biggest revolution in personal mobility. This is why vehicle manufacturers and suppliers of systems and components have been engaged for years in sensitive testing phases, launching simulation and test programmes on tracks and circuits closed to traffic to test prototypes.
It is clear that the next step will be experimentation in real traffic conditions, even though our roads are already criss-crossed by vehicles capable of limited automated driving: think, for example, of the models currently on the market under the Tesla, Mercedes, Audi and BMW brands.

The current presence on the road of vehicles capable of automating part of the driving process is due to the way in which autonomous driving systems are classified. The SAE, Society of Automotive Engineers, defines 6 different classes of functionality to distinguish the different automated operations that a vehicle can perform: from level 1, which refers to ABS systems or Cruise Control, to the last level, which identifies a vehicle capable of driving in total autonomy even in complex situations without ever requiring human intervention.

SMART MOBILITY, SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Smart mobility, and autonomous driving in particular, is of great interest to the public because the engineering and technological know-how required to implement it is capable of generating positive effects in terms of environmental and social sustainability.

Experts in the sector estimate that the automation of vehicles will lead to: an increase in road safety, optimisation of traffic flows, a reduction in fuel consumption and emissions, easier access to individual mobility for the weaker sections of society (e.g. people with disabilities) and more free time, allowing the driver to spend most of his or her travel time on activities other than driving. For these reasons and in order to intercept progress, manufacturers are making self-driving automation systems available on the market so that these new technologies can, over time, be developed in a controlled manner and provide a benefit in terms of road safety by reaching their full potential in a short time.

SELF-DRIVING AUTOMOTIVE NUMBERS

The industry is in turmoil and the challenge to make the best product is ongoing. Car manufacturers such as General Motors, which expects to have a million self-driving vehicles in its fleet by 2030, Volkswagen, which is experimenting with a connected car that communicates with the space around it, or Tesla, and with it all the major global car companies, show that driving automation is one of the main objectives of the near future.

The aim is to create a product that is sustainable and in perfect harmony with the objectives of reducing pollution. As already mentioned, a wide range of players with different profiles are investing in development, from traditional new car manufacturers to software and hardware producers and technology service providers.

The automotive industry, according to industry analysts, is expected to reach $9 trillion in global turnover by 2030. The market for self-driving vehicles is expected to grow from $56 billion in 2020 to $220 billion in 2025.

MICROMOBILITY

Linked to the concept of smart mobility is the concept of micro-mobility. A reality of environmental sustainability that is already underway and is increasingly changing the concept of mobility in large cities.

According to a study by the InnoEnergy division of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), if more people in Europe were to adopt micro-mobility than currently use it (0.1%), the benefits would be considerable in terms of traffic calming and therefore also in terms of pollution. If the share were to rise to 15%, by 2030 this would save 999 million hours a year spent in traffic, equivalent to 1% of the eurozone’s GDP, and reduce CO2 emissions by 30 million tonnes a year.

Furthermore, according to the experiments, by 2030 electric bikes, scooters and mopeds will represent a potential consumer spending of between 300 and 500 billion dollars at global level. These numbers, combined with progress in the automotive field, would produce economic and environmental benefits, completing the urban transformation of cities and the classic concepts of space and time, with a view to respecting the environment and the individual.