Abstract
The increasing population across the globe makes it essential to link smart and sustainable city planning with the logistics of transporting people and goods, which will significantly contribute to how societies will face mobility in the coming years. The concept of smart mobility emerged with the popularity of smart cities and is aligned with the sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations. A reduction in traffic congestion and new route optimizations with reduced ecological footprint are some of the essential factors of smart mobility; however, other aspects must also be taken into account, such as the promotion of active mobility and inclusive mobility, encouraging the use of other types of environmentally friendly fuels and engagement with citizens. The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and Big Data technology will serve as the main entry points and fundamental pillars to promote the rise of new innovative solutions that will change the current paradigm for cities and their citizens. Mobility-as-a-service, traffic flow optimization, the optimization of logistics and autonomous vehicles are some of the services and applications that will encompass several changes in the coming years with the transition of existing cities into smart cities. This paper provides an extensive review of the current trends and solutions presented in the scope of smart mobility and enabling technologies that support it. An overview of how smart mobility fits into smart cities is provided by characterizing its main attributes and the key benefits of using smart mobility in a smart city ecosystem. Further, this paper highlights other various opportunities and challenges related to smart mobility. Lastly, the major services and applications that are expected to arise in the coming years within smart mobility are explored with the prospective future trends and scope.
Highlights
Smart mobility is an emerging concept that is increasingly aligned with sustainable world development, taking into account the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations [1] for 2030
Some of the main challenges that are presented to smart mobility nowadays include: Infrastructure: Implementing smart mobility solutions in a smart city system has high infrastructural demands to overcome the pressure on the suboptimal transportation systems in most parts of the world
The evolution towards cities and smart mobility will not involve making more space for vehicles or more roads; rather, it will undergo a cultural paradigm shift in which people will have to stop using their private cars to switch to shared transport, which may reduce the number of vehicles in circulation, and contribute to reducing the ecological footprint
Summary
Smart mobility is an emerging concept that is increasingly aligned with sustainable world development, taking into account the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations [1] for 2030. The concept of mobility, and how it will articulate with the planning of cities and the logistics of transporting goods and people, will experience drastic changes in the coming years. Demographic growth continues to follow an exponential route, with 6 billion people registered in 1999, an approximate number of 7.7 billion in 2020 and a predicted number of approximately 9 billion expected for 2040 [2] This growth we see in cities all over the world will necessarily translate into the need for new route optimization algorithms for vehicles and people, traffic management to reduce congestion, and greater optimization in logistic processes, among others. Two key concepts are at the base of what will be the evolution of smart mobility in the coming years: on one hand, the transport of goods, and on the other, the paradigm shift in the mobility of people that will transition to mobility-as-a-service.
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