Porsche Consulting Digital Mobility Lounge 3.0

“Autonomous driving is changing the perception of a car from a driving machine to a mobility tool or from a carrier of goods to a delivery solution,” said Federico Magno, Executive Director Mobility at Porsche Consulting, at the opening of the third Mobility Lounge in Berlin. “It is digitalization in its purest form, and it will change the way we live and work in the years to come.”

Numerous decision-makers and innovators from the mobility, transportation and aviation industries as well as technology and science leaders discussed the potential that autonomous mobility already offers and what limits there are today. The keynote by Professor Udo di Fabio, former constitutional judge and head of the governmental ethical committee on autonomous driving, talked about the legal framework for robo-cars in Europe.

Di Fabio and his committee established the first guidelines for autonomous driving in Germany. “I was surprised when our set of rules became the legal framework for the whole industry because the Federal Government of Germany followed our recommendations,” he said. “But at the moment, legislation is being developed on the European level. And it will be much broader and stricter, and much more complicated,” he stated. Autonomous driving will fall into the highest risk class for the use of artificial intelligence. Di Fabio believes that this might hinder the development of the new technology by massively restricting try-outs.

An expert panel of mobility leaders then discussed the first real use cases for autonomous vehicles with moderator Philipp Bächstädt. Kirstin Hegner, Managing Director Digital Hub Mobility at UnternehmerTUM, Stephan Duempelfeld, VP Business Development at Deutsche Bahn, Benedikt Roßmann, Authorized Officer and Project Manager Logistics at Ansorge Logistik, Lars Mosdorf, Managing Director at Düsseldorf Airport, and Ole Harms, CEO of VAIVA, agreed that autonomous mobility can make mobility more environmentally friendly, increase efficiency or safety, and optimize the whole system. Despite the technical complexity, many useful applications and attractive business models are already possible. However, collaborations along the value chain as well as regulatory or liability issues need to be solved in order to accelerate adoption.

Watch the recording of the Porsche Consulting Digital Mobility Lounge “Machine behind the wheel: risk or business model?”