By Tavleen Mehendiratta, i-mobility.org

THE CONVERGENCE OF SMART CARS & SMART

CITIES

#1 UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING- A WAY OF

LIFE

50 BILLION DEVICES WAITING TO GET ON INTERNET

TWO IMPORTANT AUTO TRENDS

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CANNOT BE TOLD TO CURB ON THEIR CAR

CONSUMPTION

TODAY US STANDS AT 800 CARS PER 1000 PEOPLE AND INDIA IS AT 50 PER 1000, THE

DEVELOPING COUNTIES HAVE HUGE POTENTIAL DESPITE SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES

WE WILL ALWAYS BE CAR-DEPENDENT SOCIETY

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS STILL PLAGUED BY LAST MILE CONNECTIVITY, MULTI-MODAL ELEMENT AND LACKS THE COMFORT/STATUS THAT CAR

TODAY IS KNOWN TO PROVIDE

CAN WE MAKE THEM SMARTER?

THE DILEMMA OF AUTO MANUFACTURERS:CAN CARS NEGOTIATE THEIR WAYS OUT OF JAMS BECAUSE JAMS WILL BE THE WAY OF

LIFE?

ITS RAINING MEN!

WHEN YOU TURN ON YOUR WIPER, CAN YOUR EXACT GPS LOCATION BE UPDATED TO THE METEOROLOGICAL DEPT.

AND THEY KNOW WHICH PARTS OF CITIES ARE SEEING TRAFFIC

WHERE ARE YOU?

40% OF TRAFFIC OCCURS DUE TO CARS LOOKING FOR PARKING SPACES. COULD SENSORS BE EMBEDDED IN

CITIES TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF EMPTY PARKING SPACES?

#2 CITIES WILL BE THE NEW CLIENTS

IN RETURN FOR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF MAN HOURS, CARBON EMISSIONS, WATER SAVED, TECH

COMPANIES ARE GOING AFTER CITIES AS THEIR NEW CLIENTS

COMPANIES AFTER CITIES

SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

INTEL, FOR EXAMPLE IS WORKING ON SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS. HOW AN EVENT IN ONE PART OF THE CITY CAN TRIGGER

OTHERS IN SOME OTHER PART?

A WELL CONNECTED, RESPONSIVE CITY

FOR EXAMPLE, AN ACCIDENT ON AIRPORT ROAD MAY CAUSE PEOPLE HEADED TO THE AIRPORT ARRIVING LATE

SMARTER CITIES

SO COULD CITIES RECOMMEND YOU REAL TIME DETOURS OR MAYBE EVEN BEFORE YOU SET OUT ON YOUR JOURNEY,

YOU ARE MADE AWARE OF DIVERSIONS, CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, EVENTS

RED MARK- HIGH CONSUMPTION

WHEN 50 BILLION DEVICES GET ON THE INTERNET, A SMART METER AT HOME WILL BE ABLE TO TELL YOU OF YOUR CONSUMPTION REAL TIME, SO YOU CAN KEEP A

TRACK ALONG THE WAY.

#3 DEMOCRACY AND NOT AUTOCRACY

MASDAR’S DISASTER

THE CITY OF MASDAR WITH AN AGGRESSIVE TARGET OF BEING CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2015 AND DECIDED TO

REPLACE ALL CARS BY AUTONOMOUS PODS! THE MODEL HAS BEEN TERMED AS A FAILURE BY EXPERTS

" I think that the model of "intelligent cities" as propounded by technologists, with the telepresence eff orts of Cisco Systems a key ingredient, misses this opportunity to urbanize the technologies they mobilize. Secondly, the intelligent city concept if too rigid, becomes a futile eff ort to eliminate the incompleteness of the city, to get full control. This is a recipe for built-in obsoleteness”

SASKIA SASSEN, SOCIOLOGIST ON OPEN SOURCE URBANIZATION

THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHUCKING THE HUMAN ELEMENT OUT OF THE LOOP CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO THE SMART

CITY PROPOSITION

When my wife complains about my driving style, I can ask her why and then either agree with her or try to reassure her. I can also modify my driving so that she is not disturbed by it. But I can’t have a conversation with my car, all the communication is one way.”

DON NORMAN, COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR – LIVING WITH

COMPLEXITY

SMART CITIES ARE ANALOGOUS TO SMART CARS. WHERE THE FORMER MAKES CITIZENS DUMB, THE LATTER MAKES

DRIVERS DUMB BY INTRODUCING A COMPLETE AUTONOMY/CONTROL. THE HUMAN ELEMENT IS THUS VERY

IMPORTANT PART OF BOTH.

ONLY 1% OF WHAT CAN BE CONNECTED IS CONNECTED

AS CITIES BUSTLE WITH HUMAN ENERGY AND ACTIVITY, PEOPLE COMMERCE (GETTING FROM A TO B) WILL BE THE

CENTERPIECE OF DESIGNING SMART CITIES

THE CITIES DON’T BELONG TO ITS ARCHITECTS AND

PLANNERS…THEY BELONG TO ITS

CITIZENS!