Urban metropolitan areas need the traffic systems of the future. These must be flexible, secure, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, as well as user-friendly and affordable. Sustainable mobility requires solutions that combine all these characteristics. It calls for the integration of an equally sustainable energy supply. This in particular includes the availability of distributed, renewable energy with a corresponding network expansion as well as new smart distribution and storage systems. Even for fairly large regions, this puts the environmentally friendly use of electric mobility on streets and highways within reach.

There are also other mobility solutions that are realizable in the short term. One example is a user-friendly concept for a multi-armed regional transportation system and new, attractive car-sharing models.

Today other trends in urban mobility mainly involve smart, mobile-networked, independent transport systems (ITS) as well as extensive automation of the entire transportation infrastructure. Both help to optimize energy efficiency, traffic routing, transportation times and safety. The solutions range from new navigation and driver assistance systems, to forward-looking traffic analysis and control systems, all the way to pilotless vehicles, which drive on the smart roads of the future as an integral component of a networked traffic infrastructure.

At the same time, increasing use of renewable energy sources is an absolute must for climate-conscious and environmentally friendly traffic solutions. However, to implement “post-fossil” mobility realistically, the renewable energies that are often generated decentrally must be made directly available in the cities. This requires a demanding grid expansion. The currently relatively modest progress of the energy transition in Germany is a good example of the political and financial challenges pertaining to these goals.

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