SINGAPORE (July 8): Singapore is setting aside $40 million for 5G technology and innovation, and one of the key areas in which the city state wants to test the raw technology is urban mobility. Industry players are cautiously optimistic about its potential but warn that it is still too early to tell how the high-speed, low-latency network will shape future urban mobility.
Singapore has joined the list of countries rushing to get a head start on the 5G network. South Korea, Switzerland, Bahrain and the UK have all launched some commercial 5G mobile network services. Compared with existing mobile networks, 5G networks can transmit larger volumes of data at significantly higher speeds, opening up more usage possibilities than just making phone calls.
“I think 5G is like any other technology, we need to see and evaluate if it adds more value. It is too early to tell. We have to test [the network],” says Anja Hendel, director of innovation management and digital transformation at Porsche, on the sidelines of the fifth annual Innovfest Unbound last week. The German automaker started testing autonomous driving in Ludwigsburg with start-up Kopernikus Automotive earlier this year. The test project aims to facilitate autonomous driving within its premises. If successful, it could be applied to quickly transport Porsche’s sports cars within its assembly workshops, guided from a tablet. The use of a 5G network could enable remote-monitoring and prevent communication breakage, especially in city centres surrounded by skyscrapers.
The car industry is currently in a flux. Car ownership is hardly growing in this age of the sharing economy. An increasing number of young people today do not feel the urge to own cars, compared with the generations before them. Automakers such as Porsche have to invest in new technologies that define the future of mobility, on the one hand, and make profits and be ever more efficient in its production on the other. Auto majors are expected to spend US$400 billion ($542 billion) in the next five years, experimenting with electric cars and automated cars, according to global consulting firm AlixPartners. For Porsche, testing out how 5G adds value to its operations is one area. It is also launching its first fully electric vehicle, Taycan, this September.
“We [want] to build meaningful solutions [for our customers], such as the subscription model for cars. Every market [and its approach to mobility] is different, and you have to listen to the needs [on the ground],” Hendel says.
About a quarter of revenues in the auto world would come from new services such as autonomous cars and car-sharing services, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Singapore’s push in 5G communications network and urban mobility has drawn the interest of other mobility companies. For example, Via ID, which specialises in investing and building mobility start-ups, is in talks with ComfortDelGro Corp and SMRT for the use of their technology platforms. Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek is part of its portfolio.
Yann Martelia, Via ID’s executive chairman, says the technology would accelerate the use of mobility as a service. “It will be a major change; 5G will speed up data access and allow wider coverage.”
“For future urban mobility, I think transport must be seen from the point of view of the city. It should not be seen as a means to an end,” he says. In his view, it is important for cities to plan out infrastructure to ensure the different kinds of mobility services operate seamlessly in the urban space.
Local analysts think it would be some time before radical change to transport services were to happen.
“As a starting point, it is useful to distinguish advanced mobility concepts with [services or products] that are proven in the market to meet a genuine need,” says Walter Theseira, associate professor of economics at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. “I say the jury is still out on whether certain innovations like personal mobility devices actually meet a genuine transport need at a price that could cover operating cost.”
At present, ComfortDelGro is trialling a self-driving shuttle bus on the campus grounds of National University of Singapore. Nanyang Technological University and Swedish automaker Volvo Group launched an autonomous electric bus this year. At the same time, the Singapore government also unveiled a national standard for the safe deployment of driverless cars.
But market watchers say it will be at least a number of years before driverless cars hit the roads. These cars, even with the aid of 5G technology, are likely to be used in controlled settings such as ports or industrial estates.
The London-headquartered Aidrivers, for instance, has clinched contracts to use its technology to turn prime movers autonomous; among them are the Port Authority of Singapore and China-based heavy construction machinery manufacturer Sany Group.
“While 5G will speed up everything [for the deployment of our technology], we currently only operate in restricted areas. There are too many unpredictable [factors] in an uncontrolled environment,” says Tok Soon Chong, managing director of Aidrivers Singapore.
One of the biggest challenges for future mobility and the deployment of 5G technology is its high cost. Standards set in bigger markets may also change how the world uses the technology. “We cannot be the price maker. We are too small to [drive] manufacturers around the world [to change according to our needs],” says Theseira. But, he adds, Singapore can adopt the technology fairly quickly when standards are established and usage becomes more prevalent in the international market.
While Martelia concedes that a lot of the future last-mile mobility services are not profitable on their own, he thinks cities such as Singapore should be first movers to test them out. “If it works in Singapore, it will be a great option for very crowded places. Singapore can develop start-ups that can export solutions in Asia,” he says.
