We are on the verge of a revolution in transportation. Autonomous and connected vehicles, shared business schemes, drones, hyperloops, 3D printing, connectivity, environmental impacts, and other concepts are ushering in a new era that is set to fundamentally shift how the worlds considers and uses different means of getting from point A to point B. At Dassault Systèmes we know that virtual universes are a key means of inspiring this transformation into reality.
We are sharing this vision at Movin’On, the international summit for sustainable mobility taking place in Montreal from June 13-15. We are proud to have Guillaume Gerondeau, Senior Director Transportation & Mobility Asia at Dassault Systèmes, delivering the keynote address entitled, “Making the Great Leap: the Coming Challenges Facing Car Manufacturers.” We spoke to him to discover more about how new technologies, car sharing and the circular economy are poised to transform the traditional production-oriented industry model to create new methods of developing and selling different forms of transportation and the resulting impact on the areas served by the transportation methods.
3D Perspectives: What must today’s transportation companies consider in order to create new types of complex mobility systems?
Guillaume Gerondeau: Car makers and all mobility actors are facing an unprecedented set of challenges to thrive in today’s and tomorrow’s new environment. Considering the speed at which new solutions are going to appear on the market, the quantity of data available, the complexity of the global landscape with services adapted to very focused and local market needs and the possibilities offered by new technologies such as generative design and 3D printing are all challenges that can only be solved using a networked approach. It is only with collaboration that stakeholders can make the right decisions. Actors have to start adapting their business now.
3DP: Cars are such a major part of cities. When we move into an era of smart, autonomous vehicles, what will be the impact on urban areas?
GG: The potential of smart mobility is huge. It will increase the capacity of existing road infrastructure thanks to technologies such as virtual traffic lights, platooning and a better occupancy of vehicles. For cities, infrastructures will become a source of revenue. The overall cost of transportation by car will be cut by a factor 3 to 5 compared to owning a vehicle, emissions will be cut and accidents and congestion will just be something of the past. Economies will boom thanks to productivity improvements due to having better access to goods, logistics and job markets.
In reality smart mobility is just part of smart cities where all objects will be connected. Experiences will be the starting part of all innovation, not objects or technology. As a result, the type of objects we will see on or under the road or in the air will be very different and innovative compared to today’s cars or commercial vehicles. Think about it: despite huge technological improvements in the past century, the car and the supply chain that builds it have not significantly evolved. During this period, cities in rich countries have spread as car ownership became the norm. All urban life from jobs, leisure and shopping were organized around the car usage. Tomorrow, city centers will be revitalized. People will learn to connect with others in new ways. Cities will need to take the leadership to avoid gridlock because as the cost of driverless, shared mobility will go down usage of these services will go up. Urban planners need to think of road infrastructure as a service and set the right KPI’s such as environment quality, happiness, safety and security, economic growth, health and so on. This will be a critical role as urban populations continue to rise and megacities are competing more and more to attract talents and organizations. Mobility is going to be a key element of competitiveness and future urbanism.
3DP: The process of car purchase is changing. How do you see the technology influencing it?
GG: We are in a world driven by experience. It is difficult to predict at which speed car ownership will be impacted by autonomous drivers and new forms of mobility as a service (MAAS). Still, we know that there will be people buying cars or vehicles for some time to come for emotional or functional reasons. For buyers during the purchase process and for users of mobility services, being able to experiment in an immersive and virtual way will become the norm. Not only is virtual reality helping the end consumer, but it is also becoming the key communication tool during the development phase. Getting an idea, developing an experience in a digital space and sharing it in an immersive tool is much more efficient than trying to communicate with Word documents or PowerPoint presentations. 3D virtual tools allow you to collaborate in context. As more cities decide to virtualize their assets, planners can visualize the mobility experience in their city and adapt it for each particular case, each particular environment.
In addition to hearing directly from Guillaume during the conference sessions, Movin’On attendees are welcome to stop by Dassault Systèmes space in the “Innovation Center” to take part in immersive experiences illustrating virtual applications for collaboration, design, simulation, big data management and real-time validation of new usage scenarios that companies are using to reinvent complex mobility systems.
Learn more about Movin’On by visiting the event site. For more information on Dassault Systèmes’ industry solution experiences for the transportation & mobility industry, please click here, or for information on 3DEXPERIENCity – a 3D collaborative environment where data from sensors and city systems is federated into a virtual referential that benefits everyone – click here.
