Recommendations for Car Manufacturer

The following recommendations address car manufacturer, since they are also mobility providers after cities, communes and governments. These recommendations are also based on the results of the focus group discussions and the key factors described in paragraph 4.3. To successfully implement these recommendations, close collaboration between cities, politicians and industry is required.

Increase and Change of Service Offering

Through changes of urban mobility, which is caused, among others, by lack of space, increase in population, natural resource scarcity, “Dieselgate” and regulations to protect the environment, car manufacturer will have to change or expand their business models.

According to Kuhnert, Weber and Viereckl (2018, p. 11) will the following business models payed attention to and influence their current business models: e-mobility, autonomous driving and driving assistants, connected vehicles and digital service platforms, integrated mobility concepts (mobility on demand), use of big data in terms of commercialization of customer and user data, and car sharing. In addition, Jaekel (2013, p. 119 ff.) suggested digital technologies can – and should – increase the service offers of car manufacturer and will change their strategies. The switch from manufacturer to manufacturer and service provider will further develop. This development is already in progress, but according to the results of the focus group discussions the importance of, for example, car sharing and pooling will further increase. Manufacturer should think about the development of sharing services and how to further connect this with public transportation provided by cities and others.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, a mobility app that combines all potential means of transportation is highly recommended (Boberach et al., 2017, p. 80). For that reason, manufacturer and cities should work together to provide their customers the most convenient and efficient way of locomotion.

Expansion of Product Line

According to the identified key factors and their characteristics, traditional car manufacturers should extend their product range. When thinking about the lack of ground space and the use of air space instead, car manufacturer should stop focusing on cars that only drive on streets and start to collaborate with manufacturers of other kinds of vehicles – for example with Lilium, Volocopter, etc. First movements of this potential development are visible – the Daimler AG invested in Volocopter (Weddeling, 2018). In addition to that, Kuhnert et al. mention, that most of the interviewed automotive managers see startup and other manufacturers as opportunities instead of threats: similar to Daimler AG and Volocopter, they help to expand their business model. (Kuhnert et al., 2018, p. 13) Besides that, as Kuhnert et al. mention, e-mobility and autonomous driving are the most important business models that manufacturer should pay attention to (2018, p. 11). The field of autonomous driving in particular was one of the main future developments resulting from the focus group discussions. Different concepts were identified, including autonomous driving of cars, busses and other means of transportation. Amongst others, autonomous parking in suburbs or in specific parking garages were one of the potential concepts regarding limited ground space and increase of personal individuality. For the further implementation of autonomous functions close collaboration with the governing authorities is essential. Currently, the degree of autonomy that is permitted by the government is limited to semi-autonomous assistants (Roland Berger GmbH, 2017, p.

9).

Increase of Technological Advancement

For prospective competitiveness and positive attention from customers, traditional car manufacturer should push forward their technological innovations. Beside autonomous functions, as mentioned previously, connectivity as well as information and communication technologies for cars should be increasingly payed attention to.

One reason is the increased security via the connectivity between cars. Another is the boost in demand from the customer side to stay connected to their surroundings and the ability to individual and move seamlessly through traffic. Traffic systems can organize and optimize, for example, the frequency of traffic light systems or the route planning and control of navigation systems via data that technologically advanced cars receive and provide. These technological developments also support the development

and future of autonomous driving. Security aspects – especially regarding autonomy – are currently the obstacle for strict regulations and limitations. As mentioned earlier, fully autonomous driving currently is legally limited in Germany. Moreover, the importance of the connection to the outside world while driving is further increasing through autonomous driving. Providing that autonomy is fully integrated and permitted, driving time will be used differently. As soon as cars fully autonomous drive and the driver does not have to pay any attention to the traffic, the car becomes a place similar to being at home or any other place and with that the comfort factor will become more important. Connectivity to the Internet and outside world for work or to connect with friends will become more important. For that reason, car manufacturers need to think about potential new innovations to increase the customer experience while driving or being driven.

Increase of Focus on Shared Mobility

Resulting from the focus group discussions and other sources (Kuhnert et al., 2018, p.

11; Corwin, Vitale, Kelly and Cathles, 2015, p. 13 f.; Sumantran et al., 2017, p. 81 f.

and 85 f.), the importance of shared mobility will further increase, especially in cities.

The current value of a privately-owned car is decreasing and traveling and individuality (mobility on demand) themselves will come to the fore (Boberach et al., 2017, p. 84; Sumantran et al., 2017, p. 232). In addition, Corwin et al. (2015, p. 14) stated that autonomous shared driving will lower the personal operational costs of driving and increase the value and opportunity to experience other things while driving, achieved through technological advancements. Due to this development, car manufacturer should further develop their status as mobility provider through car sharing – it is a change from a car manufacturer becoming a mobility provider including production, service orientation and providing shared mobility (Kuhnert et al., 2018, p. 11). To further realize this development and to ensure a holistic mobility system, a close collaboration with cities and legislators need to be ensured.