Mobility Matters Daily #135 - Market Wisdom and time being of the essence
Also, where do you want to go in Berlin?
Good day friend.
Before the pandemic. my main reason for using the train was for work - doing it or trying to win it. Since March 2020, my main reasons have been getting my laptop fixed, going to see friends, and going to the football. I have to say that trying to cross central Manchester with the trams not running was not much fun, but I did get the chance to pick up some Geocaches.
To the news.
James
What will the market decide in the non-fossil fuel car future?
As much as I hate to say this, but cars are likely to be a big part of how we get around for a while yet. After all, you can’t just un-invent something, and a huge shift in personal mobility very quickly (however desirable) will cause some issues. So seeing how the big automotive manufacturers are backing different solutions makes you wonder quite how things will pan out.
Electric vehicles have a clear market lead at present, so seeing Ford, GM, and Stellanis backing President Biden’s electric car plans is no shock. Asian car makers like Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda are still back hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. But we are building infrastructure now. In the UK, the government appears to be backing both horses with electric vehicles prominent in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan and hydrogen being backed in the Hydrogen Strategy (yes, that’s a thing).
What wins out won’t be a product of environmental priorities, but of economics and politics. Electric vehicles have both at the moment. The unit costs are coming down on vehicles and charging infrastructure, and so is the price. Politicians are willing to back it too. Hydrogen is on the mat, but now has major political backing and a strong power base in major Asian markets (if not yet market share). With further research funding (that was necessary to help reduce the unit cost of electric vehicles) it could still make a roaring comeback.
Predicting traffic could save lives
There has been some amazing transport research recently, and the run continues with this great study by Kamol Chandra Roy, Samiul Hasan, Aron Culotta, and Naveen Eluru. They used real time data from traffic sensors and Twitter, and put it through a neural network to predict traffic during evacuations from Hurricanes. In this case, real Hurricanes (Irma and Matthew).
The results were that they could predict traffic congestion in key routes up to 24 hours in advance (with some errors). Having accurate predictions at this timescale could save lives, and assist in helping authorities plan evacuation routes and adapt their plans in real time. As this was a bespoke neural network, I wonder about its ability to scale and to do so quickly. I trust that it will, because when it and when Hurricanes become more frequent, this will save lives. There is nothing better than that.
Visualisation of the Day
Most journey planners instruct you on how to get from point A to point B. But what if you just wanted to travel anywhere within a set time from where you are? VBB’s journey planner for Berlin and Brandenburg allows you to do that. This map shows everywhere within half an hour by public transport of the main station in Berlin. I love it.
Source: VBB
If you do nothing else today, do this
I would like some feedback from you, actually. I’ve tried a few things over recent months to see if I can make things better. The results of which I will share soon. But I would love to hear what you want to see more of. Let me know either by commenting on this post, or simply emailing me. Thank you very much in advance!