A handful of cities in Asia are ahead when it comes to preparing for and implementing the next-generation of mobility — ranging from autonomous vehicles, electrification, shared car fleets and multimodal platforms.
Why it matters: People are cramming into cities around the globe, leading to congestion and denser development. That means personal vehicles are getting pushed aside for more efficient and sustainable modes of transportation.
- Five cities — Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul — ranked in the top 10 of the Urban Mobility Readiness Index compiled by Oliver Wyman Forum and the University of California, Berkeley.
- European cities — Amsterdam, London, Helsinki and Berlin — are also showing progress, per the report.
Singapore gets high marks in terms of innovation by collaborating with academia and businesses, nurturing a "tech hub" attracting mobility startups and supporting smart-city experiments in autonomous vehicles and traffic management.
Hong Kong ranked first in terms of social impact — thanks to its high utilization of mass transit, which accounts for 88% of the city's transportation.
Beijing got the top spot in terms of "market attractiveness," due to the sizable government investments in public transportation, new energy and logistics industries — and developing its ride-hailing and vehicle-sharing through well-funded startups.
Seoul, while not the top scorer in any category, ranked in the top 10 in four out of five categories — the highest being infrastructure, such as walkability and density of public transit stations.
Tokyo ranks high in efficiency, meaning its public transportation system is highly reliable, well-run and affordable while the city prioritizes modes other than cars by providing bicycle and bus lanes.
The bottom line: Chinese cities have benefited from the country's aggressive encouragement of electric car use and other centralized infrastructure policies.
Go deeper: How the future of mobility could impact the environment
