Car companies are dead, long live the mobility companies!
At least that’s what they’re telling us. The implication is that old-school car makers have seen the way the world is turning, and are now ready and prepared to get you from where you are to where you want to go, whether you want to travel in a vehicle you own, one you are leasing, subscribing to or even renting by the hour - and, indeed, if you want to go by any means from bus to scooter, or anything in between. And all controlled online, of course.
All the news from the 2019 Tokyo motor show
So don’t, whatever you do, mistake them for old-fashioned, mass production car makers.
In general, where there’s a trend there’s a movement, so these claims are not to be dismissed lightly. Car making is complex enough without these added challenges, and the only reason to face into them is because they are perceived to be both inevitable and beyond their control. How we travel, and how we use cars is changing. Change, or die, seems to be the subtext.
So it is that this year’s Tokyo motor show is yet another reminder for those of us with a European leaning that the Japanese car makers have been talking about - and enacting - such ideas for far longer than most, and certainly longer than the German car makers talking about such concepts with heavy rhetoric at the recent Frankfurt motor show.
So while cynical eyes may roll at Toyota’s Tokyo show slogan of “Mobility For All” and raise an eyebrow at the fact there isn’t going to be a single car on its show stand, but rather a variety of mobility concepts, the wise head might also recall that these are themes that were running at the last show, two years ago, and being developed long before that. The planning has been long, and the momentum is now strong.
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How about this?
In the future, if autonomous cars are the norm, will we bother who makes them?, will premium cars and prestige cars like RRoyce, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche still be coveted like they are today?, how heavily will speed limits be policed?, will there be just speed cameras everywhere you go?, autonomous transport should, should eliminate that, I think in the future transport will be as boring as your Fridge, you need it to keep your food in but it doesn't have to look good doing it!
I dont get this shared mobility spin at all....
....after all, at least half the country all need a car at the same time....getting to work, dropping off kids at school (particulary outside of Urban areas).
And outside Urban areas where would you pick up this car a 5 minutes notice or do you have to remember to book....what then - first come first served? Everyone else has to miss school assembly/train to work/appointment/employment start time?
None of your personal effects in the car....are you going to have to remember to carry the mobility equivalent of an overnight bag around with you.....sunglasses/water/wetwipes for children/books/dogs drinking bowl and lead etc.etc.
This all sounds like unnecessary extra stress to me and a step back to the dark ages.
I'm not certain...
...if the (european) car industry will ever fully recover from dieselgate as I've said here before I think the motoring industry is on its last legs. If cars become autonomous then why would anyone want to own/park/pay tax/etc when we can "fetch a vehicle" we were saying this 10 years ago when autonomy was all the rage.