Road transportation records the biggest contribution to emissions, followed by civil aviation, waterborne transport and railways.
Data is essential in the field of road transport. Good data on traffic flows, vehicle movement and parking spaces help urban authorities plan and manage mobility and to be able to allocate resources and infrastructure intelligently to meet mobility demands.
But traffic data is a small part of the potential for smart technology to improve our lives. In 1900, the population of vehicles in cities like London and New York were few and far between. Horse-drawn carriages dominated the scene until Henry Ford's innovation enabled the mass production of automobiles so that every person with the proper means could afford motorised transport. As Ford aptly put it, "if I asked people what they wanted, we would have had faster horses". Thankfully his forward thinking changed the face of road transport.
Today, the transport sector is going through another paradigm shift, driven (no pun intended) primarily by data availability.
Cornerstone for modern smart cities
Modern cities are built for autos, with wide streets and plenty of parking. Yet, this has led to the plague of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the growing issue of road safety and automobile accidents. Data has helped to mitigate these impacts significantly. Air pollution sensors located at hotspots in the city have linked the effects of air emissions from vehicles, such as nitric oxide and particulates, to cases of human damage. It allows health agencies to work with road planners to reduce or remove traffic from affected areas with marked results. Pedestrianisation, for instance, has not only taken polluting automobiles off the street but has opened up new street-side activities like food stalls, shops, play areas and regenerating neighbourhoods.
Only some urban cities can take follow this path. Still, using data can help planners design the most frequented commuting routes to encourage cycling and other public transportation to reduce motorised traffic clogging up highways.
GPS, or global positioning systems, has been the godsend for transport authorities, and this technology has provided valuable information for motorists and public transport users. Gone are the days wasted waiting for buses to arrive if GPS can inform the arrival times so people can plan their route according to their schedule. Technology like Google Earth maps, which we take for granted now, has given us street information that saves precious time to spend doing more important things.
The impact of COVID-19 had a lot to do with the emergence of the increase in work-from-home statistics, but as the world recovers from this devastating pandemic, will this pattern prevail as more and more people appreciate the convenience of online working and avoid the turmoil of commuting to work?
Certain trends will appear as we turn the page on a new dawning of road usage.
Private car ownership will diminish as space becomes a premium in urban centres. People will no longer wish to own cars for high taxation reasons but also because of the cost of parking. As a result, business models like car sharing will come into play; for example, Zipcar is a car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, which provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by minute, hour or day. Members have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition to car reservation charges.
The Paris Agreement warns us of the need to reduce carbon emissions or face the dire consequences of a 2-degree rise in global temperatures and the related impacts of sea level rise, severe weather occurrences, bushfires, droughts and crop failures. The transport industry accounts for 24% of direct carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. With this in mind, the road sector has to adapt to address these challenges.
Green automotive for the future
One approach has been to electrify the sector switching from fossil fuel-based petroleum to electricity produced by clean sources like renewable energy. At the end of 2020, 10 million electric vehicles were registered globally. However, this may sound tiny compared to the overall vehicle population of 1.45 billion, but the growth trend for electric vehicles is predicted to increase exponentially as climate concerns escalate.
The other approach has been to find zero-emission fuels like hydrogen. Hydrogen is a lightweight, odourless gas that has been the pipe dream of fuel technologists to be able to harness the high energy density of this gas. The development of fuel cell engineering and chemical technology has come up with viable options for producing hydrogen as "green hydrogen" from the electrolysis of water using renewable energy like solar to achieve the status of zero-emission fuel ultimately; this is a far advancement from the traditional energy-intensive "brown" method of extracting hydrogen from lignite coal.
A better and more efficient transportation system is becoming paramount in this fast-paced world.
Smart invention for climate suitability
In the future, we may observe a prevalence of zero-emission vehicles and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as we see autonomous or self-driven vehicles on the roads. A self-driving car is a vehicle that is capable of travelling without human input. By using sensors to perceive their surroundings, such as optical and thermographic cameras, radar, lidar, ultrasound/sonar, GPS, odometry and inertial measurement units, the control systems in the vehicle can interpret sensory information to create a three-dimensional model of the surroundings. Based on this model, the car identifies appropriate navigation paths and strategies for managing traffic controls and obstacles. Unfortunately, no companies can offer a fully autonomous ride in any conditions, on any road, with no human overseer. However, a lower version, known as automated vehicles, is available.
The difference between automatic and autonomous is the degree of human intervention. An automated car does not have the level of intelligence or independence that an autonomous vehicle has. A true, autonomous car would decide on destination, route, and control within the lanes. An automated car would follow orders about destination and route and may only adopt some lane-keeping or car-following guidance.
The plight of modern transport is optimistic and green. Clever planning and application of smart technology are taking the sector to new heights. Speaking of which, drone technology has provided alternative means of mobility. With passenger or goods carrying drones in the airways, will a new form of transport planning and design evolve just as Henry Ford articulated concerning the predicament of horse-drawn carriages? Do we need faster cars, or will future traffic planning be air bound rather than at-grade? The future will tell.
About the Author
Dr Thomas Tang has over 25 years of experience advising public and private sector organisations in sustainable change and innovation. He has been a consultant, corporate director and volunteer in different fields of sustainability, including climate change, green technology, urban design, stakeholder engagement, low-carbon living and social impact. He has written books and numerous articles, as well as spoken on his views at international forums on topics related to sustainability.
