Munich/Berlin. The BMW Group dialogue series “Cities in Progress” has reached its final destination with a last stop in Berlin on 15 and 16 October 2018. At previous events in Los Angeles, Melbourne, Shenzhen and Rotterdam, attendees discussed issues on an equal footing, with a focus on listening and learning from each other. Initial projects were also launched.
Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG: “The BMW Group is shaping the future of urban mobility. We are working to turn our products and services into solutions for the challenges facing metropolitan areas worldwide. Our dialogues with city decision-makers play an important part in this.”
The focus here is on the core question of how mobility will evolve in our cities in the future. Demand for alternative mobility concepts is growing rapidly in big cities. Sustainable, connected and flexible methods of transport are increasingly competing with conventional vehicles.
To offer the right solutions for every scenario, the BMW Group is going directly to cities and talking to representatives from politics, business, institutes and universities, as well as residents.
Findings show that city dwellers expect mobility services and emission-free vehicles.
- the majority of stakeholders and other respondents (49%) expect the BMW Group to provide new mobility services in addition to its existing products and services,
- most stakeholders and respondents (45%) expect the BMW product portfolio to predominantly feature emission-free vehicles,
- city dwellers would like to see emission-free vehicle production (83% in Shenzhen, 62% in Los Angeles and 61% in Berlin).
Testing and scaling of sustainable mobility concepts in Berlin.
“The survey made the demands of future mobility quite clear,” summarised Dr.-Ing. Joachim Kolling, Head of Mobility and Energy Services BMW Group. “In Berlin, for example, the BMW Group has already launched various projects and initiatives, including the platform New Mobility Berlin.”
The project, which will initially be launched in two districts of the Charlottenburg quarter of the city, will test different mobility options in collaboration with the Technical University of Berlin, the City Administration, local participants and residents.
Residents will have the opportunity to get to know the many different facets of new mobility services better. At the same time, the project also seeks to demonstrate and make the local population more aware of different ways to use public space.
As a next step, the Berlin City Administration will convert 120 parking spaces per year, up to 2021, into locally dispersed mobility points with charging infrastructure in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
In this way, the findings of the “New Mobility Berlin” project are being systematically expanded. One of two converted spaces will be reserved exclusively for carsharing vehicles.
