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Europe gears up to play pivotal role in sustainable mobility and has a chance to take the lead in innovation and technology as its economy gathers pace.

Growth and fresh opportunities

Globalisation is associated with an increase in transport demand and has made the mobility of people, ideas and goods a driving force and an essential feature of our modern societies.

In recent years, technical progress and restrictive regulations have been combined to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and unit emissions. And we, CECRA, have accompanied our members, dealers and repairers in their reflexions to identified privileged lever for action: on the one hand to make a qualitative shift towards less consumer and less polluting modes, and on the other hand to develop environmentally friendly services.

Free competition, innovation, independent entrepreneurship and consumer’s freedom are the cornerstones of today’s automotive market and even more so in the future.

“CECRA is committed to the belief that in order to develop sustainable mobility services, close collaboration between all stakeholders in this ecosystem is necessary. To go further in this approach, we recently joined the MaaS Alliance to actively participate in the building of the European framework for Mobility as a Service ” says Jean-Charles Herrenschmidt, president of CECRA.

Innovation is as important for small business as for large ones, no business can remain stagnant and expect to survive for very long in today’s competitive economy.

SMEs have the power to achieve a lot, can adapt to new trends and change by innovating. It is possible for them to develop sustainable choices while identifying what really motivates their clients.

Sustainability and profitability must work in pair and going for an eco-friendly plan will improve the customer experience and its daily life. Let us supporting responsible mobility without opposing the different modes of transport but by promoting the dedicated service to the right users.

The key is knowing our customers

It is important to give the people an incentive to go for sustainable choices. The industry‘s duty is to accompany and develop ecological behaviour. The customer needs and desires constantly evolve. Move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships in a way that is compatible with the preservation of the environment are the expectations of the European consumers. Environmental value plays an essential role when consumers are purchasing. Opting for more transparency, they are increasingly spending their money with brands that reflect their values and think about the impact on the environment.

Customer centricity is a key part of driving customer experience excellence, but the company has to have an integrated data-driven understanding of the customer. Access to in-vehicle data will powerfully enrich the current client field knowledge and will allow all stakeholders to manage an inspiring customer experience.

Mobility services of a significant quality open up a wide range of possibilities for companies to develop sustainable services.

Policymakers are involved

European institutions are supporting innovation, the European Commission’s Horizon2020 initiatives devoting €80bn to funding research and development up to 2020.

It is important to encourage and grant recognition where it is deserved. CECRA is particularly attentive to the future of mobility. It gathers best practices observed in the field and share them with its members.

Mobility in Europe is at an important crossroad and policymakers are working on how to design more effective approaches to support innovation. Analysing the ecosystem, understanding the complex interactions between regional, national and pan European stakeholders, designing researches are just some of the challenge the European bodies are facing.

Future perspective

Finally, companies that aim to satisfy customers and at the same time help improve the world have proven to be some of the most innovative. They have the opportunity to provide solutions while growing. So what are we waiting for?

A platform of services

“In the years to come, trucks will all be green powered and fully autonomous, monitored by a fleet management team, whose job will be to identify and resolve problems remotely and analyse the data created by the truck to optimize their performance.  Future will be connected; the workshops will also be fully digitized, with machines taking care of the repairs and engineers keeping them working. Interactions will be planned automatically through digital schedules that will keep exchanging information with trucks in need of preventive maintenance. The mobility market will consolidate. No matter the size, only companies providing clients with a platform of 24/7 services and paramount quality will remain.”

Gianandrea Ferrajoli, Vice-President and president of the CIV division, CECRA

Mobility for all by Station F

Innovation is a pillar of the future Mobility Orientation Law: this is why the CNPA is now using its start-up network to build a contribution adapted to the challenges of mobility for all. It is now necessary to think of “mobility pathways” and to have a vision of the sector if we want to respond to the evolution of users’ mobility needs (which are different in large urban centres, peri-urban areas, medium-sized towns, rural areas, etc.). Accessible, shared, connected, clean and safe, let’s build a responsible mobility strategy. StationF is the advanced expression of this with our Moove-lab “powered by” Via-Id.

Station F, CNPA’s mobility initiative – CNPA a member of CECRA

About CECRA

CECRA, established in 1983, is the European federation bringing together national professional associations, which represent the interests of motor trade and repair business and European Dealers councils. CECRA represents on a European scale 336,720 motor trade and repair enterprises. Together they employ 2,9 million people. CECRA provides representation to its members within the European Institutions with the aim of following-up as well as influencing the decision-making process.

For more information

Bernard Lycke Director General: bernard.lycke@cecra.eu

http://www.cecra.eu

Regulation of the new business models in the mobility sector is yet to be secured. Business initiatives are developing too quickly for the regulations to be up to speed. This is why judges are important to adapt the existing law until new rules are adopted. Parallel Avocats shares its views on the European Court of Justice of 20 December 2017 (aff. C-343/15, Asociacion Profesional Elite Taxi / Uber Systems Spain)

The « Uber » decision rendered by the European Court of Justice on 20 December 2017 was very awaited, as almost every information or Court decision concerning the Californian mobility platform. This ruling was, at least in appearance, going to the heart of the argumentation between Uber and its local competitors, the taxis, concerning the nature of the service provided by the platform: is Uber a transportation service company or a mere technological intermediary?

The simplified and inexact answer would be to answer “YES” to this question and to consider that the European Court put an end to this debate.

Reality is very much different because the decision of the ECJ is very technical from a legal perspective and has a narrow impact since it is only an interpretation of European law and not a ruling on the merits of a case.

In order to understand precisely this decision and to avoid any misunderstanding or mystification, it is worth looking at the precise legal issue the European court had to solve (1.), the motives that led the Court to conclude that Uber was a company “in the field of transport” (2.) and the key learnings one could take from this decision regarding platform regulation in Europe (3.).

1.   A technical legal reasoning to address a precise issue

The European Court had been seized by a Spanish Court in order to issue a preliminary ruling on the question whether the service provided by Uber was to be considered as an “information society service” or a “service in the field of transport”.

This procedure is the one by which a national court refers a question to the European Court of Justice to know the interpretation of a European law provision. This takes place in what is called the “dialogue of judges” within the European Union, which enables a common interpretation of European rules.

2.   Uber is a company “in the field of transport”

In the present case, the key consequence of the distinction between an “information society service” and a company “in the field of transport” is to know whether or not Member States are allowed to impose legal and regulatory limitations on the way a company operates without notifying it to the Commission (it would not be possible if the services qualifies as “information society service” because of the free movement of services principle within the Union). In other words, the main question was to determine whether or not Member States are in the position to regulate companies like Uber without any warning/notification to the Union.

The Court considered that “the intermediation service must be regarded as forming an integral part of an overall service whose main component is a transport service and, accordingly must be classified not as an information society service […] but as a service in the field of transport”.

The Court notably held that Uber was selecting drivers, providing an application, having a decisive influence on the characteristics of the service (notably the amount of the fare and the payment process) and controlling the good execution of the service provided by the drivers. In addition, the Court held that the service (here UberPop) was more than an intermediation service consisting of connecting, by means of a smartphone application, drivers and passengers.

The ECJ’s position is, despite the defence arguments, to assimilate Uber to other transportations operators such as taxis, Private Hire Vehicles or buses. Having said that, the ECJ underlines that Uber is not 100% transportation since it has an important part of the model relating to digital intermediary.

3. The impact of the decision. What’s next?

The European judges focused on a key aspect of the company’s business model: transportation from point A to point B. By doing so, their goal was to evaluate the level of implication of Uber in the transactions it enables. It is the way the service concretely operates that led the ECJ to its conclusion that the control Uber has over the service and the transactions qualifies as a service in the field of transportation.

We believe this decision is a useful reminder for platforms:

1. that they are under increased regulatory scrutiny in Europe,
2. that the level of control they have over supply and demand in their market is a major factor to anticipate when structuring the business model and
3. that the regulatory requirements of each national market they penetrate need to be carefully weighed and analysed before taking decisions that may endanger their core business model.

Nevertheless, this decision is not as surprising or alarming as we can read in some newspapers (see for instance, the Guardian’s analysis). It does not state that Uber is a transport company but only that it operates in the “field of transport”, which means that Member States can adopt strict sectorial rules without notification to the Union. For instance, in France, platforms in the transportation of persons are considered as “booking centrals” and are held responsible, since 2017, for the good provision of the service by their drivers.

In substance, this decision is not the death penalty of Uber. It is merely a general authorisation given by the ECJ to Member States who wish to impose strict regulations on platforms in the transportation sector.

Such a decision should thus be welcomed as it provides clarification and invites European startups and other transportation companies to think of the role they want to play in the transportation operation that they enable. In other words, it can be summarised as follows: the bigger the intermediation, the higher the level of regulation.

On a more general level, this decision of the ECJ underlines the difficulties to regulate and to find the proper legal concept governing innovative business models in the digital economy. The issue is not only about Uber and transports, it is way broader. Indeed, the key underlying issue is to determine the level of responsibility of the digital intermediary, which may vary according to their role in the transaction. We believe that the European framework for digital actors needs to be amended as the historical distinction between editor and host (resulting from the e-commerce directive of 2004) is no longer adapted to the way platforms operate and to the way business is currently being conducted online. To build a strong digital market in Union, it is needed, in our views, to have a coherent and ambitious legal framework.

Arthur Millerand and Michel Leclerc are lawyers and founding partners at Parallel Avocats. Experts of the regulatory issues of the digital economy, they are co-authors of the blog www.droitdupartage.com (since 2013) and co-authors of the book « Collaborative Economy & Law » (January 2016).

Parallel Avocats (www.parallel.law) is a French law firm dedicated to the digital economy and the electronic platforms. Founding partners Arthur Millerand and Michel Leclerc believe that “Mobility is a key sector of the digital transformation: our experience of supporting shared mobility stakeholders has convinced us of the importance of law in the development of an innovative mobility company. We wish to put this experience to the benefit of startups which work for a sustainable mobility.“

Innovation in mobility is everywhere

With applicant start-ups in all Europe and 7 countries strongly represented (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Finland and Netherlands), the European mobility playground is a reality. Most of the Top50 start-ups operate in more than 4 countries.

Specific skills for a same target

While European start-ups in all countries  are mainly focused on urban mobility (“City” is one of the most used words in the Top50 start-ups pitch) and wish to improve people’s mobility (vs mobility for goods), they address mobility issues differently depending on their culture. While Spanish and French start-ups are service-oriented (29% and 25%), Finnish and German ones foster their software skills for mobility (24% and 22%). One-third of the top 50 mobility start-ups adopt a platform approach.

Change the world in a better way

The 50 best mobility start-ups have 3 main drivers: being a mobility game changer and having a social and environmental impact. “Green Mobility”, “new energies” and “collaborative” are one the most popular topic addressed by them. They also want to make mobility easier and seamless for people , offering “MaaS” (Mobility as a Service) solutions, “Multimodality” solutions and “connected” ones.

The ecosystem, a catalyst for growth?

More advanced start-ups are in Germany and France, reaching a critical mass team to grow (more than 10 employees). It is with 4 years after launch and a team of 21 people on average that start-ups are best equipped to accelerate.

Depending on the country, start-ups require more or less time to grow and accelerate. German startups are the fastest growing start-ups (2.6 years and 11.8 employees on average) reflecting the “Rocket Internet practices” that generate significant resources in a short time at the service of identified business model, while there is for example a different approach for English startups with less people-intensive business models (3.1 years and 6.2 employees on average).

The ecosystem also plays an important role in the dynamics of startups. More than 1/2 startups have been accompanied by an incubator in Spain and France, and more than 2/3 startups in Germany.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://startupprize.eu/wp-content/uploads/Capture-d’écran-2018-01-05-à-10.45.29.png[/author_image] [author_info]Sophie Bailly is in charge of communication and partnership for Via ID[/author_info] [/author]

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://startupprize.eu/wp-content/uploads/Logo-VIA-ID1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Via ID is a business accelerator and the venture capital arm of Mobivia, the European leader in automotive services and new mobility solutions (Norauto, Midas, A.T.U…). With offices in Europe, USA and Asia, Via ID aspires to take part in the most innovative and new mobility projects globally, focused on intelligent, sustainable and everyday means of mobility. The Via ID teams support some twenty startups in France and abroad (Smoove, Drivy, Heetch, Xee, Swiftly, …). www.via-id.com [/author_info] [/author]

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This first edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility is a great success, with nearly 500 startups from all over Europe responding to the call for applications. 10 of them were selected on the basis of criteria such as their ecological and social impact, the degree of innovation of their product or service, or their traction, i.e. their ability to attract investors and customers.

These 10 startups will all participate in the coming months in a tour of the biggest European tech events during which they will meet investors, partners and potential future clients. Four of them will receive awards during a pitch session open to the press on Thursday, February 22nd in Brussels with a tailor-made accompaniment designed by The Boston Consulting Group, Parallel Avocats and Grimaldi Studio.

AddSeat – Sweden – An innovative electric vehicle to facilitate short journeys for people with reduced mobility.
AppyParking – UK – Informs users in real time about the state of parking on streets.
ATSUKE – France – Offers mobile service solutions to enable omni-channel commerce and customer relations.
Cargonexx – Germany – Platform for connecting utility vehicle owners with professionals with freight needs.
COCOLIS – France – Collaborative platform dedicated to the transport of parcels by private individuals.
Klaxit – France – Carpooling offer for all transport pass holders in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Rennes, Grenoble and Orléans.
MaaS Global – Finland – Offers the purchase of public transport tickets via an application.
NRGkick – Austria – Revolutionises the charging of electric cars with new technology.
Tracefy Smart Mobility solutions – Netherlands – Provides a real-time internet connection with any e-bike to connect it to a GPS, platform, (personalised) application, or to exchange data.
Voltia e-mobility – Slovakia – Offers fleets of electric utility vehicles with zero CO2 emissions

Due to the high quality of some projects outside the European Union, the selection committee decided to create a special prize. A Swiss startup was selected, BestMile, an autonomous vehicle fleet management platform.

3 startups will also be highlighted for the quality of their European development, the French Drivy and Stuart and the Estonian Taxify.

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Blockchain-based mobility services will challenge the monopoly of private platforms, by decentralising the system, putting the power back in the hands of the end users and protecting their personal data.

Blockchain is a technology that allows to store and share information without any central control organism. Its most famous application is the bitcoin, an open-source, peer-to-peer and digital decentralised cryptocurrency, created in 2009. Basically, the blockchain is a growing list of records (blocks) that are linked and secured using cryptography; it works as a database of all the exchanges that happened between its users since its creation. Now, this database is not centralised; it’s actually replicated multiple times and in real time all over the network. Which means that blockchains are secure by design: instead of one central server, a multitude of servers detain the information on the transactions, making it virtually impossible to hack.

A multi-field revolution

Blockchain is set to revolutionise quite a few sectors, from energy transactions to online voting, money transfers, banking, insurance, contracts, etc. But it also has great potential in the realm of mobility. To this day, the most famous innovation in that field is called La’Zooz : an Israeli start-up offering a decentralised carpooling service, entirely owned by its community. Contributing to the service (whether you are a driver, a passenger, or a developer for the app) earns you tokens that are stocked on a blockchain and can be used to order a ride. There are several advantages to building a Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO) like La’Zooz, compared to what classic carpooling, car-sharing or private hire platforms offer. First, the “fair share” system permitted by the use of tokens ensures that all the users and stakeholders of the service benefit equitably from it. Secondly, the absence of a central platform makes for cheaper rides: the users “work” in their best interest rather than enriching a private company. Thirdly, it protects the users’ data and increases trust all around, which is paramount to the collaborative economy.

From car-sharing to electric charging stations

La’Zooz is not the only initiative to harness these strengths. EY (Ernst & Young) recently announced the creation of Tesseract, a platform that enables companies and groups of individuals to share the use of a car, while payment and insurances are handled through the blockchain. Institute for Technological Research SystemX is working with French local authorities on a system to remunerate carpooling drivers with tokens they can use to rent a bike or ride the public transportation system — an interesting perspective for intermodality. Start-up Pack’n’Drive has developed the Chainly project to allow connected car drivers to easily and safely declare damages. In Germany, the Share and Charge network allows private individuals to install a charging station for electric cars in front of their home, which can be used by anyone at a rate they fix. The owner of the station is remunerated with tokens that can be spent at another charging station or converted to euros.

The future of autonomous cars

In the near future, blockchain-based mobility services will most likely develop around autonomous cars. The Toyota Research Institute has partnered with the MIT MediaLab and four companies to test the opportunities of blockchain for the automobile industry. One of the projects consists of sharing the data gathered by connected cars and through tests on autonomous cars, which will help build safe and reliable self-driving vehicles. Then, once these vehicles are available to the public — most likely through car-sharing or private hire platforms –, the blockchain technology could allow to form peer-to-peer sharing platforms. The cars would communicate among themselves and with the users, and smart contracts, insurance and payments would be handled through the blockchain.

These are still the early days of the blockchain revolution, but one thing is certain: in the field of mobility, the technology will divert value creation from monopolistic platforms and give more power to groups of users. That sounds about right.

The GDPR will enter into force on 25 May 2018, repealing the current 1995 Data Protection Directive. The GDPR will ensure higher protection of personal and sensitive data, while also introducing new concepts, such as privacy by design, which will allow companies to develop their own privacy policies as long as they comply with GDPR.

What happens next

The General Data Protection Regulation – or GDPR – was adopted by the European Parliament in April 2016 and will be effective as of 25 May 2018 in the whole of the European Union. Once the GDPR is in effect, the current Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC (DPD) is repealed. Being in the form of a regulation, the GDPR has direct effect in each Member State’s legislation, without requiring implementation into national law (like, for an instance, a Directive). Nonetheless, GDPR does not achieve full harmonisation of data protection law across the EU. In order to accommodate certain existing national specificities, Member States can add or modify certain provisions of the GDPR with a view to fitting their local needs and laws. This provides them certain flexibility. In total, there are over 50 provisions which allow GDPR derogations by Member States. Derogations will be allowed for the purposes of national security, prevention and detection of crime and in certain other situations.  In addition, the Commission will have the power to make delegated acts to clarify certain aspects of the regulation. Therefore, some discrepancies at national level will inevitably remain, however they will be kept to a minimum in order to avoid forum shopping.

Main changes

Core rules are the same as the DPD. The Regulation applies to the processing of personal data by a controller or a processor. The Regulation retains a broad definition of personal data and processing. Personal data covers all the information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, including IP addresses, cookie identifiers, automated personal data and can also encompass pseudonymised data if a person can be identified from it. Sensitive data includes personal data consisting of racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sexual life or sexual orientation.

The Regulation only applies to personal data if it is processed wholly or partly by automated means or is part of a sophisticated hard copy filing system. One of the biggest differences from the DPD is the principle of “accountability” and the requirement for data controllers to “be responsible for, and to be able to demonstrate compliance” with the principles relating to processing of personal data. Privacy by design enables companies to take all the appropriate technical and organizational measures in order to ensure data protection a priori. This  implies for organizations to consider and elaborate data protection processes before proceeding to any data collection.

All companies processing data and having more than 250 employees must appoint a Data Protection Officer or DPO. The DPO position requires solid expertise when it comes to data protection practices and legal framework. The DPO will report directly to the company’s management. The GDPR provides for certain rules aimed at avoiding the DPO’s dismissal for reasons related to GDPR compliance. Member States have discretion to enact national provisions imposing further requirements regarding the appointment of DPOs.

One of the big topics of the GDPR is consent and the need to prove that it has been obtained. Consent needs to be completely unambiguous and the GDPR explicitly bans pre-ticked opt in boxes (in other words, there are no more possibilities for “opt-out” options). Data subjects can withdraw their consent at any time. There is no more possibility of “bundle consent”: where different processing activities are taking place, consent is presumed not to be valid unless the individual can consent separately.

Breaches must be reported to the relevant regulator without undue delay and, where feasible, within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, unless the breach is unlikely to result in a risk for the rights and freedoms of individuals. Data subjects must be informed without undue delay where the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the data subject’s rights and freedoms, unless the data has been rendered unintelligible to any third party (for example by encryption). If the data controller has taken steps to ensure that the high risk is unlikely to materialise or it would involve disproportionate effort to inform data subjects individually, a public announcement can be made.

Organisations will be regulated by a single data regulator in the place of their main establishment. The main establishment will be the main administrative location in the EU or the Member States where the main decisions about data processing are taken.

The GDPR introduces two levels of fines.

1. Up to €10 million or 2% of the company’s global annual turnover of the previous financial year, whichever is higher. This will be considered according to Article 83(4) of the GDPR.
2. Up to €20 million or 4% of the company’s global annual turnover of the previous financial year, whichever is higher. This will be considered for infringements covered in Article 83(5) of the GDPR.

Fines will be considered on a case by case basis and will depend on issues like how much intentional or negligent the infringement was; the measures that the company has taken in order to mitigate the damages; any previous infringements; cooperation with authorities and the nature of the data affected.

What GDPR means for startups?

Many start-ups and tech business are SMEs with a small number of workers that does not exceed the GDPR threshold. Nonetheless, if processing data is a core activity, the start-up must appoint a DPO, for example an existing member of staff, as long as there is no conflict of interest with his/her current role. There is no need for formal training or qualifications in order to be a DPO, but he/she “must be appointed on the basis of professional qualities and, in particular, expert knowledge on data protection law and practices”.

Once a DPOr is in place, it is important to identify the specific privacy risks which the organisations is exposed to and how these risks can be mitigated or avoided. Organisations will be required to carry out data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) if their proposed activities are likely to result in a high risk for the rights and freedoms of individuals; in particular, through the use of new technologies and in cases of people profiling.

This exercise should take the form of a data mapping exercise, resulting in the collection of the information set out in Article 30 GDPR, which requires data controllers and processors to maintain a record of processing activities, including:

• name and contact details of the controller and, where applicable, the joint controller, the controller’s representative and the data protection officer;
• purposes of the processing;
• a description of the categories of data subjects and of the categories of personal data;
• categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, including recipients in third countries or international organisations;
• where applicable, transfers of personal data to a third country or an international organisation, including the identification of that third country or international organisation and the documentation of suitable safeguards;
• where possible, the envisaged time limits for erasure of the different categories of data;
• where possible, a general description of the technical and organisational security measures in place to safeguard the data.

If customer support is outsourced, the outsourced company will be the data processor which stores and uses the customer data provided. The outsourced company will be in charge of the data compliance mentioned above.  In case of outsourcing, consideration should also be given to the contracting process and the life cycle of the relationship with the data processor. All data processing contracts must contain the minimum provisions as set out in Article 28, which includes, among others, scope, nature and purpose of processing, duration of the processing, and types of personal data and categories of data subjects.

Start-ups which already comply with the current DPD must review their current policies, in order to verify whether they comply with the new provisions, especially concerning privacy notices, consent and accountability. Independent testing and quality assurance frameworks should be established to ensure that data protection processes and procedures are being adhered to.

Opportunities arising from GDPR

The new GDPR strives for simplification: it is sufficient for companies to be registered in the Member State of establishment. This means, that they will have to interact only with the data protection authority of the Member State chosen as their State of main establishment. In addition, while the GDPR does not provide for full harmonisation, it nonetheless creates a more consistent approach across the EU, reducing uncertainty and eliminating the need to comply with different national rules. The principles underpinning the GDPR will be applied and enforced consistently throughout the EU.

For organisations which are naturally prone to innovation, concepts such as privacy by design, profiling and data portability provide the opportunity not only to innovate, but also to build customers’ trust and confidence. The ultimate purpose of the GDPR is to protect the data subject as well as to increase their trust towards the companies complying with the EU rules. These rules grant a higher level of protection compared to other jurisdictions. Ultimately, this can result in a competitive advantage for the EU companies.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://startupprize.eu/wp-content/uploads/Simona.png[/author_image] [author_info]Simona Frazzani is a Senior Associate at the Brussels’ office of Grimaldi Studio Legale. She advises both private clients and public institutions on EU legislation related to innovative technologies, collaborative economy, digital platforms, consumer protection, passenger rights, and transport regulation.[/author_info] [/author]

With offices in Milan, Rome, Bari, Brussels, London and Lugano, 37 partners and more than 150 lawyers, Grimaldi Studio Legale is recognized for its quality and business approach. With a complete and diversified legal expertise, the Firm advises Italian and International clients. Thanks to the diversified skills and knowledge of its teams of dedicated lawyers, the Firm assists its clients in a seamless manner on ground breaking. The Firm has also received recognition in all the main trade publications for the quality of its service and the calibre of its lawyers. For more information www.grimaldilex.com

What if the future of mobility depended (also) on an innovation that has been around for two centuries?

When we think about the transportation of tomorrow, flying cars, self-driving vehicles, hoverboards and electric bikes come to mind. But also super-fast trains. A few years ago, Elon Musk unveiled the Hyperloop project: a conceptual high-speed transportation system that, granted, resembles more a gigantic tube in which pressurized capsules will ride on air cushions than an actual train. In Japan, “bullet trains” have already broken the world record of rail speed, maintaining a top speed of 600 km/h for 11 seconds. They rely on a technology called Maglev (magnetic levitation) which limitates frictions: the trains actually levitate ten centimeters above the rails thanks to a magnetic field. These innovations prove that the good old locomotive is still more pertinent than ever for short, middle and even long distance travel — after all, twelve years ago, French train company SNCF had everyone fooled with their fake transatlantic tunnel project.

Faster trains and flexible stations

The first ever electric locomotive started working in 1894; in 1975, steam locomotives disappeared in France. Today, the train is a cleaner, more ecological means of transportation than planes and cars for middle and long distance travel. While there is definitely room for technical innovation (like high-speed or self-driving trains), what will truly make the train the means of transportation of the future lies more with the experience. Train travel remains expensive; over the past few years, train companies have been making more and more of an effort to make the experience more enjoyable and efficient by installing power outlets, making WiFi available onboard or offering entertainment that matches what long-haul flights have long been proposing. Another key area for development is the stations, which are increasingly becoming hangout spots rather than places people just pass through. Train stations of the future should be “relatively pleasant, brighter, and have more customer amenities,” says Paul Skoutelas, National Director of Transit and Rail at architecture firm WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, to Gizmodo. One reason for that is that stations will be a very important node in the mobility of tomorrow. Intermodality develops thanks to apps and services (SNCF has announced that they have a “personal travel assistant”, that will handle every step of the commute, in the works), but it becomes physically real in and around stations, where all mobilities converge and interact. Initiatives like the Interrail (a train pass that is valid in 30 European countries) or start-ups like Trainline (that make it easier to plan a train trip across borders) do contribute to building a sense of having a European train network. But if it is to develop, this network is bound to rely on busy stations — there are 71 that welcome more than 30 million passengers a year — where hopping on and off a train, a bus, a bike or a hoverboard will become more natural than ever.

“Cycling is a fluid, reliable, affordable, healthy, space-saving, energy-saving and non-polluting means of transportation. For distances ranging from 500 metres to 10 kilometres, it is often the method of locomotion that is the most efficient, beneficial to the local economy and enjoyable.” In Le Pouvoir de la pédale (Rue de l’Échiquier, 2014, new edition in 2018 — not translated), French cyclist and writer Olivier Razemon makes a strong case for the “cyclable transition”. He is not the only one to believe in the power of what the French call “la petite reine” (the small queen) to reinvent mobility. In June 2017, the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) published a document entitled EU Cycling Strategy. Recommendations for Delivering Green Growth and an Effective Mobility in 2030, in which they write that “the benefits of cycling are widespread and concrete; they range from less congestion and better air quality to more jobs, and improved mobility.” They argue that cycling contributes to at least 11 of the 15 Sustainable Development Goals. “We believe the bicycle is a solution to many of the worlds’ woes,” says their website’s homepage.

Europe is leading the way

All over Europe, the bicycle is already an important part of the efforts led to achieve sustainable and affordable mobility. In the North of the continent, it is already well anchored in people’s habits: according to the Copenhagenize Bicycle Friendly Cities Index 2017, the most bike-friendly cities in the world are Copenhagen (where 62 % of residents ride a bike daily), Utrecht (where the biggest bicycle parking lot in the world — 12 500 spots — is under construction) and Amsterdam (where 40% of the inhabitants use the bicycle as primary means of transportation). In other European cities, “la petite reine” needs a bit more help to gain similar importance. Paris and the Île-de-France region, for instance, have adopted an ambitious cycling plan aimed at tripling the number of cycling trips by 2021. But it is worth noting that 18 out of the 20 most bike-friendly cities in the world are in Europe.

Building a European bicycle plan

So what’s ahead? Taking all of these city- or nation-led efforts, and joining them within a European bicycle plan. That is what the ECF advocates in its report, “the first systematic review of all EU policies related to cycling, directly or indirectly. It clearly demonstrates that targeted action at European level will bring about a better result compared to action solely at the national, regional and local level,” writes Manfred Neun, president of the ECF. The organisation has defined four objectives for 2030: grow cycle use by 50 % across the EU; halve rates for killed and seriously injured cyclists; invest 3 billion euros in cycling in the period 2021-2027, and 6 billion euros from 2028 to 2034; treat cycling as an equal partner in the mobility system.

We can imagine a European network of bicycle paths; a EU-wide, ambitious plan to support the adoption of electric bikes; a new system that revolutionises delivery-based businesses, where the bicycle allows to save time and money on the last-kilometre segment while trucks remain outside of the cities — of course, this system will have to protect the delivery riders much more fairly and efficiently than the current platforms already in use for food delivery. We can envision a mobility system where the bike is given at least as much importance as the car. As Olivier Razemon points out in his book, the main resistances to the bicycle are cultural: “When we present the bicycle as a means of transportation that is bound to develop, we face a backlash: the bike suddenly becomes ‘the poor man’s vehicle’, ‘an instrument that is difficult to handle’ or ‘an ecological talisman for the daydreaming bourgeois.’” While making the bicycle an instrument of the mobility of the future will require investments and ambition policy-making, the biggest obstacle still facing “la petite reine” maybe lies in our misconceptions.