Mobility+ celebrates successful premiere with a future

Complementary mobility services have become an integral part of everyday life. At InnoTrans 2022 the Mobility+ section of the trade fair celebrated its premiere and immediately attracted great interest among trade visitors. This is in line with the trend for increasing networking of public transport with on-demand and sharing services. “The extremely positive response and the thematic diversity in this new area show the importance of integrating Mobility+ at InnoTrans in order to connect the relevant players with each other and to further advance the topic of complementary mobility services or First/Last Mile,” says InnoTrans Director Kerstin Schulz.

Individual and seamless networking

26 exhibitors presented their mobility solutions, including arvato GmbH, Door2door GmbH/Swvl, CleverShuttle, MotionTag GmbH, Optibus Ltd, Sono Motors GmbH and Via Technologies Europe BV. The spectrum ranged from shared mobility via mobility apps and payment solutions to on-demand driving systems or flying objects such as drones. “The most exciting thing about InnoTrans is that we can meet with international customers from the rail sector and combine our on-demand solutions with classic public transport services,” says Ivan Cihlarz, Global Head of Customer Success at Swvl/Door2door. The goal, as with all complementary mobility services, is to make the passenger experience as personalised and seamless as possible through multimodal routing combined with futuristic mobility transport, he adds.

Focus on autonomous driving

Solutions for ride sharing for the first and last mile and ride-pooling offers were also represented, as well as AI applications such as delivery robots, air taxis and autonomous driving, which are an important part of the mobility turnaround and were also discussed in the Mobility+ Corner. Here, for example, the company ZF Mobility Solutions presented its autonomous transport system and showed the differences to the much-discussed Robottaxi.

Other presentations and discussions revolved around demand-oriented and area-wide mobility in rural areas, the increased integration and promotion of on-demand services in public transport, and the need for digital information to learn more about customer needs and ensure a flexible and optimised mobility experience.

Mobility+ will continue to increasingly address these trends and will also map them at InnoTrans 2024, where all the key players from politics, business and research will come together to drive forward the industry's issues. “We are always pleased to have the opportunity here to exchange ideas and work together on the transport turnaround,” says Ralf Droste, Senior Manager Communications at DB Regio Bus.