BUSES

There’s also the question of helping the disabled with mobility solutions, and again, ioki thinks it has the answers they need.

Deutsche Bahn is eager to go the extra mile with its ioki brand and sees on-demand rides as part of the future it’s working towards. Bad Birnbach and its six-person mini-bus is likely to be nothing more than the first step towards a customizable public shuttle system that could eliminate the need for vehicle ownership altogether.

The Vehicles: More Than Just the Mini-Bus

The mini-bus that plies the streets of Bad Birnbach is a boxy little six-seater that looks like half a loaf of bread. It’s cute, and it’s compact, but it’s by no means the only option that Deutsche Bahn and ioki are developing.

@ioki_mobility setzt voll auf moderne, flexible und individuelle #Mobilität, um so die Mobilität von morgen voranzubringen. https://t.co/vjjaUkbqw3 pic.twitter.com/lL4nIVg93s

— Nahverkehrs-praxis (@NP_aktuell) 24 April 2018

The City of Hamburg plans to roll out driver-based shuttles from ioki this year. The rides will be on-demand and will connect smartphone users to the existing public transport system. Driverless bus trials are also planned for the city this year.

First field trials for an on-demand autonomous tuk-tuk service in Frankfurt are underway, with ioki employees as acting as the test clients. The current test fleet consists of 13 three-wheel mini-vehicles, and ioki has already developed the apps that will allow passengers to book and pay for rides.

App-Cantered Control for Passengers, Drivers and Service Operators

Apart from passengers using an app to order the ride-sharing service, drivers also get an app. This time it’s to help them navigate the most efficient route to collect their passengers while coordinating all the trip requests they receive.

Meanwhile, an operator-based software package allows administrators to get an overview of the fleet based on their roles with the transport operator. A marketer or customer service official can quickly see the analytics they need to make decisions, as can the operational controllers who plan and run the system.

The various apps and analytics software packages are currently being tested in practice, and by the time the system enjoys widespread adoption, it should be ready to handle just about anything that the real-life needs of all players can throw at it.

What it All Adds Up To

Clean electricity is an area in which Germany has become a worldwide leader. While some countries may still rely heavily on polluting coal-fired power stations and the hazards of nuclear energy, Germany has quietly been switching over to clean energy sources and renewable energy-sharing with its neighbors.

A private electric vehicle can already save a considerable amount of emissions. But with ride-sharing electric vehicles preparing to hit the mainstream in a big way, energy demands will be slashed. If ioki realizes its vision of making private vehicles redundant, the pressure on energy networks and the emissions from traditional vehicles will be substantially reduced.

Quieter roads and more pleasant urban environments will also become a reality. If an electric shuttle carries six people who would otherwise have used a private vehicle, there will be five fewer vehicles on the roads. Multiply that by the number of ride-sharing vehicles available, and the impact could be enormous.

Finally, people will be better off. Maintaining and running a private vehicle has costs, but people continue to buy vehicles out of necessity or a desire for convenience. With both need and ease of use out of the equation, more people will use ride-sharing vehicles and public transport, and while this has its own costs, they will be far lower than those of private vehicle ownership.