Beyond the Hood – Rethinking Mobility

Authors

Dr. Volkmar Denner, Chairman of the Board of Management,
Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart

Year

2019

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Reihe 12, Nr. 811

Summary

The challenges of mobility – some people refer to them as pain points – can be divided into four categories. They are human health as it relates to air quality, climate change, traffic accidents, and urban mobility.

Human Health
According to preliminary findings from the German Environment Agency for 2018, annual
average readings were still over the legal limit (40 μg/m3) at approx. 40 percent of NO₂
monitoring stations located close to traffic.1 Even if limits are higher in other countries – e.g. 100 μg/m³ in the United States – we must take steps to improve air quality.
In the case of particulates, major advances have been made in recent years that mean limits are now met across almost all of Europe and North America. Nonetheless, particulate pollution is still too high, especially in emerging markets: in 2018, 82 percent of the world’s population was exposed to concentrations of particulates in excess of WHO guidelines (PM2.5: 10 μg/m³, PM10: 20 μg/m³).

Climate Change
The transportation sector must also play its part in combating climate change. From 1990 to 2017, CO₂ emissions across the EU-28 rose by 28 percent to 1.1 billion metric tons (including aviation). To meet the Paris agreement’s “plus 1.5°C to well below 2°C” scenario, Europe’s transportation sector must become climate-neutral by 2050.

Traffic Accidents
Over 1.3 million people still die each year in traffic accidents worldwide. That makes traffic accidents the most common cause of death for those aged 5 to 29.

Urban Mobility
German car drivers spend an average of some 120 hours per year in traffic jams. Another
problem area is the search for parking, which is estimated to cause some 30 percent of urban traffic.