Micromobility could prove a pivotal piece of future multimodal transport systems, potentially taking private vehicles off the road and shifting travellers to cleaner, more efficient options. However, the e-scooter segment has proven controversial from the start, with many operators playing fast and loose with city permits. A lack of clear or enforceable regulations has resulted in numerous deaths and injuries; Paris alone recorded three deaths and more than 400 injuries linked to e-scooters last year. Then there’s the road clutter, with complaints of abandoned scooters clogging up pavements and making it particularly difficult for pedestrians with disabilities.
Even so, it came as a surprise to many when Paris voted overwhelmingly to not renew the permits granted to its current shared e-scooter operators. This month we take a deep dive into what went wrong in this particular city, which in many other ways is proving a pioneer of innovative urban mobility. We also take a look at the latest developments from Fiat, Audi, Cupra, and Xpeng on customer engagement, retail, design, and electrification.
In this issue:
- Paris scooter ban serves as wake-up call for micromobility
- Cupra’s rebellion strategy pays off—and grows up
- Just how revolutionary is Omniverse for manufacturing?
- Fiat redefines immersive retail with metaverse store
- Is China’s EV market still competitive without incentives?
- EV and AV tech advances lessen design limitations
- Economics of electrification crucial for 2030 auto industry
- Beyond buzzwords: automation requires consumer education
- Sustainability is shaping multi-modal’s emergence
- ZEVs demand common life cycle assessment standards
- Emissions scrutiny shapes braking innovation
- Audi imagines four-dimensional virtual cabin designs
- What happens to IoT connectivity if there is an outage?
- Where does Europe stand in the global battery race?
- Time to rethink fleet refuelling
