Question: What do you consider to be the next 'big thing' in transport, that will one day be mainstream?

Miriam Ricci answered on 8 Nov 2017:

Two trends I think will affect transport in the future and might become mainstream…one is automation, in passenger and freight transport, and the other is shared mobility, i.e. when people don’t actually own vehicles but share them via an app for example. The sharing economy is developing fast, think about Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and other similar platforms. Or also peer-to-peer services, that are not linked to any big company like the ones I have listed earlier. There is evidence that younger generations are the key users of the sharing economy, also because of financial reasons (sharing stuff is less expensive than owning stuff, like houses, cars…). Automation is happening in many areas of our lives, not just transport. Applications of robots can be found in medicine, mechanical tools etc. Automated vehicles, like the Google cars, could revolutionise the way we move, and the way goods are moved. Platoons of self-driving lorries and unmanned delivery drones could become commonplace! There are also other things that might become mainstream, like MaaS – Mobility as a Service. This means that transport could become a service we access like other services, e.g. mobile phone, broadband or Netflix packages. So you can buy a package of mobility services that cost you say 30 quid a month and gives you access to a certain number of bus rides, train rides, bike sharing, car sharing, car hire, Uber rides etc. It would do all the integrated smart ticketing and journey planning via an app on your smartphone or tablet, so you won’t need to use cash or remember timetables.
But my personal hope is that what becomes mainstream is that people use less polluting fuels and motorised vehicles, and use more their bikes and their own feet, if they can, for short journeys!