Mobility is one of the most exciting — and important — areas of improvement for the travel industry. It encompasses the daily experience of all travelers across multiple modes of transportation in both urban cores and rural areas.
At JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV), defining how mobility will shape everyday life is both an exciting and important task. A large number of the deals we see aim to improve the passenger experience. Everybody travels, so we all have first-hand impressions of particular pain points that can be improved.
Think of it like an iceberg: The passenger experience is only what we see above the water. Below the water are the logistics involved in each vacation, flight, or hotel stay. Improving the overall journey is a massive undertaking that requires operational finesse to tackle many interdependent challenges.
In order to see travel continue to be a vital economic driver, mobility must become a focus for the industry. Consider a typical trip: it begins and ends not at the airport, but at the traveler’s origin and final destination. It also encompasses the way travelers move about their destination. For better or worse, these variables affect how a traveler feels about the experience as a whole. Here’s a 35,000-foot view of where mobility is headed — and what we need to do to get there.
First: Improving air traffic control
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is already tackling mobility issues within airspace with the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. The program will allow for flights that are more on-time, thus enhancing the customer experience and improving access to multimodal connections. Ideally, once the investment can prove its value in this way, more regulation will follow to facilitate the total integration of mobility within the existing air infrastructure. New automation, data communication, and weather technology (just to name a few!) will provide a palpable solution for current mobility challenges.
Then: The rise of VTOLs
Vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) vehicles may be taking to the skies sooner than we think. These smaller airships will likely play a pivotal role in solving the “last mile” mobility challenge of getting passengers to and from the airport safely and efficiently. They also pose solutions to major hurdles in today’s mobility infrastructure and pave the way for the transportation wave of the future:
Congestion: With the reduction in movement during COVID-19, the world saw an improvement in traffic congestion. However, as the economy reopens and ground transportation once again becomes overcrowded, passengers will look to the air to solve the mobility crisis. We predict that passengers will be more willing to try VTOLs as a result. When these earlier adopters experience the safety, comfort, and convenience of this technology, it may lead to booming demand in the market as a whole.
Electrification: Since many VTOLs are being built from scratch, the benefits of electrification are compelling. Electric airships have fewer parts, which reduces complexity, minimizes noise, and eliminates messy refueling scenarios. It’s also better for the environment: as the cost of energy drops thanks to improved efficiency of renewables, electric engines become a sustainable, cost-effective solution for powering aircraft. Of course, there will be logistical challenges to overcome, but if electricity can democratize air travel, it will be wildly successful.
Infrastructure: As more citizens move to urban locations, the costs to update infrastructure are rising astronomically. It’s no longer financially (or logistically) possible to keep up with population growth and the infrastructure necessary to support urban centers. With plenty of rooftops and airport space to go around, VTOLs require less upfront investment than traditional forms of transportation.
And, of course: Seamless multi-modal mobility
Today, there’s one reason why mobility has captured so much imagination (and investment): seamless in-destination mobility affects us all. Whether we are travelers or locals, everyone wants an easier way to get around. After all, mobility is about access. If consumers need many apps to find transportation across multiple ecosystems, the promise of true mobility is diluted.
Consumers want a simple, comprehensive search platform to access transportation options at their fingertips. It might be a scooter on a Saturday afternoon, a rideshare on Saturday night, a train on Sunday, and a subway on Monday morning. These options must be aggregated into a single view, and made available in a way that gives choice and transparency.
Of course, we’re only halfway there. For example, Uber has already done a great job of featuring some of these options. But the industry needs to reduce barriers to allow for full adoption (outside of a corporate monopoly), because multi-modal transportation is an essential feature of mobility’s future.
What needs to happen to reach the future of mobility?
Outside of the three areas mentioned above, there are a few other things that need to happen to achieve the future of mobility. We are particularly looking forward to:
Predictive modeling: Improvements across the mobility spectrum require a hefty amount of data analysis. With enough data, we can create predictive models that reveal deficiencies and predict demand. As an example, consider the journey to and from the airport. When providers can pinpoint exactly where and when the journey is taking longer than expected for passengers, companies can better plan and potentially reduce disruptions.
Better batteries: Improvements in battery technology are necessary to support the electrification of air travel. Without batteries (or other energy creation innovations), air and noise pollution remain.
Lower costs: Mobility has to make financial sense for everyone across the value chain. Without healthy unit economics for individual suppliers, it won’t work. The price of this technology must drop significantly to support reasonable pricing for the end consumer.
The future of mobility is bright. There’s so much opportunity to improve upon it, both for ourselves and our planet. The right investments, coupled with industry-wide collaboration, will build momentum and transform transportation for generations to come.
