This chapter encapsulates and utilises the main findings of all previous chapters in this book. It is doing so in the form of a “futures thinking” exercise in which the authors, based on the findings of the previous chapters as well as on the current trends and estimates of the future course of some key influencing factors, outline the likely mobility landscape in 2050 and beyond. The influencing factors that are considered are, political/geopolitical, economic, social, technological, legal/regulatory, and environmental/climate change related. Each of these categories of factors is examined in detail and estimates are made as to the expected trends and developments until 2050 and beyond. During this examination there are six conditionalities that are formulated i.e., basic assumptions of fundamental importance expressed as a sine qua non condition without which the described future cannot exist. There are also various other analyses made as regards the influencing factors such as, for example, the developing new international trade and competition environment, the national debt situation, and the economic outlook of four regions that are examined in more detail i.e., Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa. The future prospects and development potential are then examined for seven basic technological innovations that are likely to dominate the transport and mobility sector in the future, namely: Battery electric vehicles, Vehicles using hydrogen (in direct combustion or in fuel cells), Cooperative connected and automated vehicles, Shared automated mobility, Flying vehicles (vertical take-off and landing), Artificial Intelligence (software and apps), and Advanced freight transport and urban distribution technologies. After presenting the basic functional and technical characteristics of each of these technologies, the text discusses their technology readiness levels (TRLs) currently and expected by 2050+, as well as their estimated penetration levels by 2050. Similar analyses are made for the environmental and climate change factors including the degree of adaptation for each of the four regions, the energy related issues with the estimated renewable energy production per region, the legal and regulatory factors, and so on. The chapter ends with a 30-page description of the authors’ vision of future mobility for urban and interurban/rural areas. This is presented in terms of three types of urban area, the estimated penetration levels of new technologies (including AI) in each of the four geographic regions considered, the estimated degree of adaptation of each region to climate change, and other related factors. The description of the 2050 + future mobility, is given in the form of two Tables describing the future mobility scene in each of the three types of urban areas in terms of the following ten attributes: (1) Types of networks and transport modes and V2X infrastructures (2) Degree of adaptation to climate change (3) Shared Mobility offered as a service (4) Accessibility, convenience and affordability of the urban mobility system (5) Personalised travel advice (6) Smart travel demand management (7) Cooperative connected and automated mobility (8) Smart traffic management (9) Car ownership and car use levels (10) Freight transport and urban delivery services.
