Skip to main content

Look to the future of transportation with Xerox at ITSA 2016

Transportation of the future could include driverless cars, high-speed rail, or even flying cars. But as Xerox points out, what is clear is that today’s mobility is akin to the Wild West – everyone is staking their claims around the globe, and the government is trying to figure out its role.
June 3, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

Transportation of the future could include driverless cars, high-speed rail, or even flying cars. But as 4186 Xerox points out, what is clear is that today’s mobility is akin to the Wild West – everyone is staking their claims around the globe, and the government is trying to figure out its role.

Xerox believes that the network that’s built should be developed with four guiding principles in mind. Firstly, be open. Think about how the data exchange will benefit both public and private sectors. With an open data platform, app developers and startups can create the next best way to get around.

Secondly, be driven by demand. Demand is always higher than supply no matter what mode of transportation we’re talking about.

Another key guiding principle is to be flexible. As Xerox points out, though we don’t know what mobility will look like in the future, we do know that the network needs to be flexible to respond to all innovations.

Finally, be regulated. Even though regulations can be overdone, our Wild West mobility today doesn’t mesh with our society or the need for a coordinated platform.

With the above in mind, the Xerox booth at ITS America 2016 San Jose will focus on re-envisioning mobility: it’s not entirely about transit or cars – it’s about building a platform that public and private providers can develop and flourish upon. As Xerox says, the cities that build those networks will have a distinct competitive advantage, and those that don’t, will be stuck in gridlock.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Walk | Don’t Walk – actually, just Don’t Walk
    March 17, 2025
    In 1925 a traffic ordinance was introduced in Los Angeles. The 100-year anniversary is significant because, transportation historian Peter Norton suggests, the law in effect set the blueprint for car-dependency across the US. Adam Hill asks him how…
  • Governments must look beyond short-term spending of public funds
    February 2, 2012
    Phil Pettitt, Chief Executive of innovITS, the UK's ITS Centre of Excellence, argues that governments need to look beyond the short-term when looking to pump-prime economic recovery with public funds. It seems, in the current economic climate, that a 'good' day is one in which no company is announcing job cuts or going into administration. Consumer demand is down and businesses are retrenching, cutting costs and fretting over the consequences of shrinking opportunities and order books. It has not been this
  • ARTBA proposes path to breaking gridlock on transportation funding
    March 13, 2015
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has outlined a detailed proposal it believes could end the political impasse over how to fund future federal investments in state highway, bridge and transit capital projects. The ‘Getting beyond gridlock’ plan would marry a 15 cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gas and diesel motor fuels tax with a 100 per cent offsetting federal tax rebate for middle and lower income Americans for six years. The plan, ARTBA says, would fund a US$401 bil
  • An innovation lab – not a burden
    June 27, 2018
    Travellers want to be able to book multimodal journeys easily – and to be informed of problems and alternatives as they go. Adam Roark might just be able to help, finds Ben Spencer. The global shift in transportation towards members of the public wanting access to multimodal journeys is rapidly changing how people pay and plan ahead. Buying tickets from a machine and dealing with the frustration of discovering your train is cancelled is a scenario commuters want to avoid through technology’s ability to