Evolving mobility – MIND-sets Knowledge Center

As mobility is evolving more into a service, we are seeing an increase in additional layers of service, content and commerce that bring value or vitality to the journey. Some argue that a car is not just a vehicle anymore to get you from A to B. It becomes an autonomous decision making unit on wheels fuelled with entertainment, advertising and online shopping.

• As mobility evolves into a service and autonomous vehicles are on their way, how can we fill in spare time?

• How can transport planners add contents, entertainment and vitality to the journey, so mobility services get more meaning and become more valuable?

• More and more mobility service providers have done first experiments in seeing mobility as a platform for social connection, e-commerce and entertainment.

Post-mobility as a business model

100% Electric, 100% Autonomous and 100% Free provides space for more

In April 2016, Jia Yeuting, CEO of the Chinese company Leeco revealed the Lesee. This car looks smoothly designed like the Tesla S; is not only 100% Electric, but also 100% autonomous and voice-controlled. On top of that, the Chinese have also been thinking about “post-mobility” – the next step in mobility. Because a 100% self-driving car allows its passengers to do other stuff than driving. That’s why the Chinese aim to offer the car for free; as a mobility-on-demand-service; wired with entertainment, location-based advertising and online shopping. So instead of thinking of a car as a means to get you from A to B, they see it as an autonomous decision making unit on wheels.

Travelling by book

In the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, free travel was offered during the summer of 2015 on public transport for passengers reading a book. The ‘Travel by Book’ scheme was launched by literacy advocate Victor Miron, in collaboration with the city’s major in order to battle the dominant image of commuters absorbed by their smartphones all day.

The Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government Railways) has placed posters offering download links to the first chapters of books on its trains as part of the National Reading Plan, with aims to improve literacy.

Enjoy your delay
Available from the App Store for EUR 2.99, VertragingsApp hosts a range of short stories tagged with the average time period needed to complete each piece – including 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 and 60-minute stories. The idea behind the app is that travellers experiencing delays due to poor weather conditions or problems with the route can search for fiction or non-fiction from well-known authors that they will be able to finish before they step off the train or bus.

Enjoy Netflix while driving a Volvo

Volvo and Netflix are teaming up for a concept of on screen entertainment while commuting in a driverless way. The company’s Concept 26 model, unveiled in November 2016 at the LA Auto Show, features a huge retractable screen – built into the dashboard and swivelling into place like something out of a James Bond movie – that will allow car users to kick back and stream their favourite media.

KLM meet and seat

For KLM, the integration of social networking in their service started with Club China. From their Customer Relationship Management, they understood that their highly profitable clients consisted mostly of business men flying to and from China. To support them, they started to offer separate Club China lounges, language courses and… a Club China online networking tool – when flying Club China, you could check whether other Club China members where on your flight, check their profile and choose a seat next to them. KLM understands they are not just in the aviation business, they connect people. That’s why they asked the question why not connect people while in the air, so the networking can start in the air and make valuable connections.

After Club China worked very well and was a strategic asset to make the difference with the competition, KLM unrolled the meet and seat service over all its flights.

Your next taxi-driver might be a psychologist

Sweden’s largest taxi company ‘Taxi Stockholm’ has trained three certified psycho-therapists to become taxi drivers in 2014. Clients with a need for a good conversation got a fresh pep talk during their ride at the regular taxi tariff. The rate was not increased, but the number of rides and driven kilometres was higher among the therapists when compared with regular taxi drivers.