An integrated approach to mobility – Henning Kagermann at the Tagesspiegel Future Mobility Summit
Berlin, 09 April 2018
In his keynote speech to the Tagesspiegel Future Mobility Summit on 9 April in Berlin, Chair of the German National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE) and acatech President Henning Kagermann highlighted the challenges facing mobility today. He stressed that digitalisation, connectivity, automation and electrification should no longer be considered separately in the field of mobility.
Henning Kagermann explained how demographic change, new patterns of transport use and climate and environmental protection requirements all call for flexible mobility solutions. Accordingly, future technological solutions should help to improve quality of life and facilitate social inclusion. Moreover, tomorrow’s mobility providers will need to deliver an integrated mobility service centred on users’ needs.
In terms of where electric mobility stands today, Kagermann emphasised that it is becoming an increasingly viable option for everyday use: “Electric mobility is and will continue to be an ambitious and very worthwhile goal for our society, cities and economy.” However, the time has come to stop thinking of it in isolation and start adopting an integrated approach that incorporates the other key mobility trends: “The electrification of transport is a long journey – and a number of major new challenges have cropped up along the way. The digital transformation is bringing fundamental changes to the mobility system and making it possible to connect different forms of mobility to a far greater extent.”
The NPE chair called on delegates to help ensure that Germany addresses the transition to connected and automated electric mobility strategically and swiftly, as befits its position as a leading automotive nation and pioneer of Industrie 4.0 and the energy transition.
