Ben Foulser, Partner in KPMG’s Transport Practice, joined Ambreen Mir for an insightful Q&A session exploring the role of digital infrastructure and data in shaping the future of mobility. Ben highlighted the power of public-private collaboration in accelerating innovation, shared his perspective on the impact of connected and autonomous vehicles on urban planning, and called for agile regulatory frameworks to support emerging transport technologies. He also emphasised the importance of platforms like the London EV Show in fostering cross-sector dialogue and driving progress in sustainable mobility.

#Ambreen: How do you see the role of digital infrastructure and data in shaping the future of mobility?

#Ben: Digital infrastructure and data are key in shaping the future of mobility. Digital platforms such as the Bus Open Data Service, Digital TRO platform, and National Parking Platform have already delivered material benefits in the transport sector – both for customers and in creating opportunities for innovation and new business opportunities. Meanwhile, introduction of data standards is improving the quantum and quality of data being shared across the sector. OCPI is a great example of this in EV charging, enabling OEMs, mapping providers, and platforms such as ZapMap to provide information about charging infrastructure across UK and Europe, bolstered by regulations such as the Public Chargepoint Consumer Regulations, ensuring quality and consistency of that data. Finally, in the race for Automated Mobility we shouldn’t forget the importance of Connected Vehicles, and the associated benefits spanning efficiency gains and safety improvements across the road network: ensuring that infrastructure is in place to enable connectivity to deliver its full potential. 

#Ambreen: How can public and private sectors collaborate effectively to accelerate the adoption of future mobility solutions?

#Ben: Collaboration between the public and private sectors is key to ensuring equitable, efficient, safe, and secure adoption of automated, connected, electric, and shared mobility. Collaboration has multiple facets, including the private sector fully engaging in government consultations for the design of future policy and regulation, the public sector being agile and open to innovation in policy and regulation, investment by  authorities in the infrastructure and capabilities needed to support the adoption of new technologies in the sector – with the private sector actively inputting into the design of this infrastructure, collaborating on trials and pilots, and sharing (non-commercially sensitive) data openly. Collaboration is also critical in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks – including cyber risks given the increasing interconnectedness of the sector.

#Ambreen: With the rise of autonomous and connected vehicles, how do you think urban transport planning will evolve?

#Ben: Connected vehicles will – if telemetry data is made available – provide urban transport authorities with significantly more insight into usage, performance, and state of health of road networks, providing a valuable input into not only planning decisions (both strategic (e.g. future infrastructure needs) and tactical (e.g. optimised junction designs and traffic management plans)) but also operational decisions such as live signal control and incident response activities. We can already see examples of the opportunities of the use of data in this way through programmes such as Transport for London’s Surface Intelligent Transport Systems (SITS) initiative. Meanwhile autonomous vehicles will both create opportunities and challenges for urban transport authorities, including improved safety and efficiency of vehicle operations, but with the potential to be counteracted by significantly increased demand and the need for infrastructure re-design to accommodate changes in both user and pedestrian behaviours.

#Ambreen: What policy or regulatory changes do you believe are crucial for advancing sustainable transport and mobility innovation?

#Ben: Whilst the UK’s regulatory frameworks for transport are some of the oldest in the world we are also innovating quickly and providing opportunities to trial new technologies and business models outside of existing frameworks through the West Midlands Transport Regulatory Sandbox and Future Transport Zones. Some proposed new regulations (e.g. for eScooters) would benefit from being accelerated and work is now required to quickly establish secondary legislation to enable deployment of automated vehicles following the successful making of the Automated Vehicles Act last year. 

#Ambreen: As the London EV Show continues to grow, what role do you think such industry events play in driving innovation and collaboration in the EV and mobility sector?

#Ben: The London EV Show and peer events provide an excellent opportunity to bring together organisations from across government and all parts of the value chain in the private sector to share updates on the latest thinking and developments and challenges being faced, and to discuss potential solutions and collaboration opportunities to unblock development and accelerate delivery of eMobility.