The old philosophy of mobility was centered on the ease and affordability of an automobile. Now, transportation is focused on inclusion and multimodal options that provide residents access to the services or activities in the areas they reside. This paradigm shift is changing the way cities and residents define mobility, its purpose, impact, and innovative solutions that solve mobility issues.

Such was the thrust of a panel discussion at the June Chamber Transportation Committee. Bruce Milne of Pivot3; Bart Bohn of Austin Technology Incubator; Kathleen Baireuther of RMI; and Addy Binns of Capital Factory shared their viewpoints on why innovative technology matters in the future of mobility.

“What I think a lot about is people getting out of their car,” said Kathleen Baireuther of Rocky Mountain Institute. “And leaving their car at home while still being able to get around easily; that’s the metric in my mind.”

Quality transport options such as cycling, ride sharing, walking, or even light rail are all examples of innovation in transportation. But all of this comes with a price—a genuine fear of the unknown. With the emergence of autonomous “robocars” driving automobiles and flying vehicles, a lot of buyers are wondering if this will even solve their transportation dilemmas.

“What I think gets lost a lot is that incremental steps have to happen,” said Bruce Milne of Pivot3. “So think about the major step forward that Uber represented at the time. That was all computers in the cloud coordinating the resources and that is a difficult problem to solve and they solved it. Now we are applying it to food, bicycles, and all of those things. That was an incremental step that exposed a whole new set of opportunities.”

For some of the panelists, the future of transportation (at least for now) will be through the eyes of ride sharing or micro transit. Examples of this in Central Texas include Chariot or B-Austin. But this still may not be feasible for the majority of residents.

“I have zero confidence and cannot leave my vehicle at home,” said Bart Bohn of the Austin Technology Incubator. “Part of the reason is my daughter, I take her to school or summer camps all the time. My job is to knit together ecosystems and entrepreneurs. Half of my work is done driving around, in coffee shops, in offices or co-working spaces, on campus, off campus, in San Antonio. That’s my schedule. So a lot of people have the exact same highly dynamic and concentrated schedule.”

Regardless of the differences, one thing remains certain regarding the future of mobility—innovative transportation has to be available to all people. Central Texas like many other cities has “transit deserts,” geographic areas deficient in public transit services.

“There is another world out there that has no transportation,” said Addy Binns of Capital Factory. “They have transportation deserts. I think about growing up in the intercity—it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to my high school—and I lived in the city. We should think about this when thinking of the future of transportation.”

The next transportation committee meeting will be held on Thursday, August 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the boardroom of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. To join the committee or sign up to attend the meeting, contact Drew Scheberle, SVP of Governmental Relations, at 512-322-5628.

Pictured (L-R): Kathleen Baireuther of RMI; Bart Bohn of Austin Technology Incubator; Bruce Milne of Pivot3; and Addy Binns of Capital Factory