Urban Mobility Networks, Sustainability and Transactions in Southeast Asia with Dr Partha Goswami

Introduction

Dr Partha Goswami and I  examine the opportunity for urban mobility infrastructure in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the context of sustainability and economic growth for the region and recommends some steps to create a new delivery framework.

Urban mobility development and sustainability are closely interlinked. In Southeast Asia, the next few years may be pivotal for both. We see two major leading indicators. One, governments will need to find ways to ensure that their sustainability commitments under the global COP regime are met. This will call for focus on the future of transportation and mobility, especially within cities. After all, around 50% or more of ASEAN residents live and work in cities. This percentage is only likely to go up with time.  Two, businesses will invest in more infrastructure as policymakers urge the creation and intensification of an environment for technology to flourish. Quite a bit of this infrastructure development today can already be linked to the significant acceleration of data centre building in this region and the emergent long tail from both AI as well as chip manufacturing. 

Sustainability and Mobility

Sustainability is no longer an abstract concept, but a quantified goal, as defined by the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). NDCs are country-specific national commitments to a zero-carbon future and translate international climate agreements into concrete targets and measures that countries will work toward over the next 10 years. As of November 2024, following COP-29, developed countries agreed to triple their financial support to developing countries, increasing from $100 billion annually to $300 billion annually by 2035. The next round of NDCs, with 2035 target dates, is due by early 2025. The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 23% of CO2 emissions. Hence new transportation technology and infrastructure updates will be required to meet these targets. 

Urban Mobility Today

Urban mobility networks are no longer defined only by traditional mass transit and private cars on city streets and public highways. The growth of self-contained, privately owned urban ecosystems, such as planned townships, industrial parks and mixed-use developments is creating the need for more local and short-range transportation. These internal mobility demands within a community are fueled by older (and often affluent) residents and the need for on-time arrival of amenities, services and people at key industrial hubs that exist close to residential areas.

The industrial ecosystems are driven principally by technology-led businesses, manufacturing, tourism and supply chains. ASEAN has historically seen significant infrastructure growth over decades being driven by such businesses. There are 76 ports and around 300 airports, alongside numerous cities and their hinterlands. These cities include very large metropolitan areas such as JABODETABEK in Indonesia and Metro Manila in The Philippines. Now, with the explosion in demand for data centers, states like Johor in Malaysia are showing strong indications of being the new epicenters of development. Johor, in particular, also exemplifies multi-dimensional economic interdependencies, (1) global-to-local, e.g., emerging Singapore-Johor economic zone supporting global demands (2) regional country-to-country, e.g., Singapore and Malaysia in this case and (3) people-to-people cross-border interaction, e.g., the land border between Singapore and Johor is one of the busiest in the world. These new interdependencies are driving the need for new multi-modal mobility, for both people and cargo transportation. For instance, traditional travel between the Malaysian state and Singapore involves taking a bus or train across the border or driving one’s own car. Now, with the anticipated growth of both internal and cross-border commuters, the state government of Johor has been discussing mass transit within the state itself to complement the upcoming cross border transit system, connecting to the newly revamped rail links to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Arguably, the modernization of transit systems is interlinked with economic growth and associated incentives, such as the setup of a special economic zone with low tax, duty free privileges and new real estate developments in Johor, including the upcoming data centers planned by multinational companies. We believe that all these will be the catalysts for new forms of mass and micro transit and supporting infrastructure, including intelligent tolling and taxation.

Electrification and new mobility

Deployment of electrified vehicles (battery electric or hybrids) and electrification deserve special mention in the context of the new mobility, since the percentage of electrification of the economy is one potential metric of a country’s decarbonization trajectory.^[1] Studies have shown that electrification of mobility is the most effective path to eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, associated with transportation. Singapore has a growing network of charging points, driven by a government policy of encouraging low emission transport. Expansion of similar charging infrastructure in the ASEAN region can contribute to the growth of emission free sustainable mobility. 

Role of shipping, aviation and automation

The growth and technological modernization of ports and airports also influence the development of new mobility. In particular, the growing automation in ports and airports plays a big role relative to the movement of cargo. Ports and airports serve as the primary nodes in a wider network of goods and cargo transfer to warehouses, distribution centers and to the final point of delivery. The automation within warehouses and between nodes of cargo transfer requires smarter mobility infrastructure. In addition, automation is not just about cost savings and efficiency. Increasingly, policymakers look for automation designs which are also sustainable, involve low emission or zero emission vehicles (ZEV) and lead to appreciable contributions towards meeting NDC goals. Each low or zero emission transportation used for work and business in Johor or for cross-border travel is a step towards target fulfilment. This is likely to change the curbside and parking infrastructure in parts of the state, as EV charging points will inevitably be set up. In countries with wide EV adoption, these charging hubs are also being designed as centers of additional consumer services and new commerce. Malaysia itself is keen about EVs, especially since it has both a thriving electronics sector and automobile manufacturing. There may be, here, the seeds of advanced, sustainable urban mobility services being laid. What might make this unique are the roles of governments, businesses and people on both sides of an international border.

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for NDC component

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) or smart mobility means many things to many people, but the core idea is to leverage technology such as wireless protocols, vehicle connectivity, location data, AI, smart sensing, electrification etc. to provide smart infrastructure such as real time traffic management, smart tolling, e-payments for charging, decarbonization and mitigation of congestion to provide efficient and safer transportation.Implementing ITS technologies can move the needle towards a zero carbon, climate resilient economy that can create millions of jobs, reduce pollution, improve human health and generate myriad other benefits for the country. 

Motivation for ITS

Creating more sustainable, congestion mitigating road infrastructure and transportation is a common goal for all major urban centers from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai, Manila, London, Lisbon or Los Angeles. This is becoming increasingly critical for urban and transportation planners tasked with solving the triple challenges of decongestion, road safety and decarbonisation as more and more people migrate to metro cities across the globe. New technologies are emerging to address these three challenges. There is also evidence that smart mobility solutions lead to safe mobility with fewer accidents. This is particularly critical given that according to the US Center of disease control (CDC), approximately 3,700 people die every day in road accidents worldwide, making a total of 1.35 million deaths globally in a year. About half of these, ~645,000 fatalities, happen in Asia and the Pacific, according to adb.org. Also, between 20 and 50 million people every year suffer non-fatal injuries due to car accidents.

Some of the potential achievable goals of ITS could be

• Enhance percentage of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles
• Improve energy efficiency by expanding renewable energy
• Improve congestion on roads and vehicle flow, using modern ITS technology, traffic light management
• Improve access to transport for public and enhance quality of existing services

Digital traffic management – heart of intelligent transport systems (ITS)

Technology innovation for smart mobility has been exploding over the last decade with new solutions in connectivity, wireless, data analytics, AI and automation. Technologies, mainly in wireless connectivity, data analytics and even AI, are being combined together in many markets to mitigate the challenges, such as

• Efficient transportation - personal or shared
• Decongestion
• Decarbonization.

There are many ongoing smart mobility initiatives in Western markets that are transferable to Asian or South American or even African markets. In the context of developments in SE Asia to address NDC commitments, this is even more meaningful and opportune. Some examples of smart mobility solutions include:

Active management of traffic flow – This is applicable to traffic light intersections and merging at highways, or whatever freeway systems a country may have. Regardless of the current sophistication of such systems, there are always opportunities to improve the key metrics of efficient traffic flow, i.e., less congestion and fewer accidents. A key enabler to build such capability is data-based decision making that uses collection and analysis of road infrastructure data, potentially enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Some examples of new infrastructure solutions, using data analytics, communication and AI technologies include:

• Smart intersection – Dynamic traffic light management based on current traffic flow
• Automated toll operation – Toll booths in freeways or other roads are consistently proven to be bottlenecks and sources of congestion in all markets – Asian, European or American. Automatic free flow payments based on in car transponders or anonymized camera or Lidar (light detection and ranging) based traffic recognition, number-plate detection and vehicle count are shown to provide both driver convenience, smoother congestion mitigation, less pollution and more cost-efficient revenue generation for urban planners. Free flow cashless and contact free tolling payment is win-win both for drivers (consumers), road managers (government) and the environment.
• Smart vision – Camera based systems can detect sizes of vehicles, can estimate weights based on road sensors and can communicate to appropriate authorities. Latest developments in thermal cameras in western markets, especially in the US, can also add effectiveness to such systems by use of AI and by checking thermal signatures to assess, for example, if an overloaded truck is overheating beyond its normal limits.

Role of software in smart mobility

What does this mean for software? The deployment of smart and emission free transportation, autonomous or otherwise, will require control, guidance, response, system maintenance and infrastructure management that require software at every facet of the operation. Second, even the most advanced mobility systems may involve accidents, damages and liabilities, that can be more efficiently serviced through data driven software. Finally, modern new energy vehicles, electric or hybrids, partially or fully autonomous, are increasingly developed as software driven platforms. In other words, software developers will increasingly be critically needed in design, development and operation of the entire mobility ecosystem. One might argue that never has the term “software-defined-vehicle” been more pertinent. In order to make this feasible in Southeast Asia with its dense cities, upcoming townships, massive emerging airports and bustling ports, it is necessary to have an ecosystem of service providers and brands integrated through a single orchestration layer. This is the eventual system on offer to property developers, infrastructure operators and governments.

Investment and partnerships

The investment to make all these happen will need a strategic private and public partnership, planning and financial commitment – supported by regional venture capitalists and public financing arms, with well defined revenue sharing and return on investment (ROI). Given the economic scale and technological complexity of such investment, just one (public) or the other (private) sponsors may not suffice.

In addition to direct owners of smart mobility systems and investors, support organizations such as police and emergency services should also be stakeholders of such systems, especially of the management of the smart mobility communication network.

 Technology ecosystem to support a public / private mobility design

Here are some examples of large or small enterprises that are building solutions and are already servicing various facets of smart mobility in the US and European markets:

• Cleardata – Owned by Iteris, a US based mobility tech company specializing in smart mobility infrastructure. Cleardata is an aggregator of traffic data, road incidents, vehicle speed etc. available for both private and public sectors in markets in Europe, US or Asia.
• PTV Access – It’s a data platform for multi-modal transport to an address (e.g., combination of bike, taxi, private car, public transport – bus and trains, walking). A 0-100 probability of reaching a destination within a given time is assigned to a particular combination. The platform is built off input from the public and infrastructure data.
• Moovit – App giving guidance on public and shared transportation, primarily in Europe.
• Cohda Wireless – Builds smart road side units (RSU) to support urban and road infrastructure for C-V2X (Cellular vehicle to anything connectivity) communication.
• Connected Signal – A southern California based software startup that provides cloud-based signal prioritization

This small sample gives an idea of the diversity of technologies, already in the market, that can be effectively integrated to modernize a country’s transportation infrastructure. Many pilots and early projects are already in place in many markets, from Dubai to Dublin to Dallas.

Our Recommendations

We believe that the future of urban mobility management in densely populated tropical metropolitan areas has to be vehicle brand agnostic and ecosystem-specific. We recommend a smart and Open Software Defined Vehicular and Infrastructure Management System. This is based on the numerous traffic management and congestion pricing platforms rolled out in different parts of the world so far and the principles of Open Application Programming Interface (API). Similar ideas are already deployed or are being discussed in other industries. For example, in case of Open Banking in the banking and financial services industry, disparate players in the ecosystem interact between one another, share data and deliver outcomes to the end user. In case of the smart transportation infrastructure, end users are the drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, transit riders etc.. Unlike SDVs for vehicular OEMs, we do not see the above platform controlling the basic functionalities of a vehicle at this stage. This may change if automotive manufacturers find reason to deploy driverless devices in select settlements and facilities for industrial purposes.

 Briefly, this would consist of the following:

1.  A consent framework whereby individuals, organizations and machines permit one party to seek access to data about them from another party for pre-specified uses and with pre-set timelines of use. This is key to enabling seamless movement of information without misuse across multiple brands of vehicles, roadside infrastructure service providers and emergency service providers, among others. 
2. An end-user framework which defines what services end-users can access, what services the end-user can create (as vendor, provider, sub-contractor, volunteer, etc.) incentive building for a variety of scenarios (congestion, emissions, roadside crowding etc.) and rules under which transactions may take place.
3. A management dashboard with controls for a range of users and managers.
4. User Interface management as the interfaces may be in vehicle dashboards, on mobile phones, off-the-road (service stations, charging points, garages, hubs, curbside facilities) and on computers (this being most likely in offices).
5. An orchestration layer which enables onboarding of products, services and brands and manages their integration with end users and their lifecycles
6. A pricing engine which enables rating, charging and billing for core and value-added services in mobility.
7. Peripherals which enable other third parties to add their own products and services based on commercial agreements.

Conclusion

Sustainable urban mobility is an integral building block of the digitalization of economies. It is multi-dimensional and involves many actors. We have painted a high-level picture but practical implementation can take one of a number of pathways. Our capabilities extend from bespoke consultancy and advisory services to designing and implementing systems and platforms. We are available for a conversation around the possibilities and needs of each institution.

Disclaimer

The authors are neither affiliated with, nor have any stake in the companies cited in the whitepaper. They are highlighted only as relevant examples of the technologies discussed.

 About Us

Kaustuv Ghosh is a Singaporean tech entrepreneur whose firm is focused on global digital transformation. He has held senior executive positions in a number of leading firms such as NDTV, Sybase, NETS, Sinar Mas, Orga Systems and Matchmove, besides setting up and running his own businesses. Kaustuv has also planned, designed and implemented complex projects involving media, traffic and sustainability indices, besides spending the better half of three decades in building and delivering solutions to financial service companies, start-ups and government-led institutions.

Dr. Partha Goswami is a leading automotive strategist, based in the US, with a combined tenure of over three decades in Ford Motors Company and General Motors, with experience in product development, technology planning and R&D. Currently, Dr. Goswami provides consulting and advisory service in mobility systems, ITS, and future planning of vehicular technology and businesses. He holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace and Engineering Mechanics from Iowa State University, an MBA from University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, a BS from IIT Kharagpur (India) and a certification as a foresight professional from University of Houston.

Sources

Infrastructure Support | Reasons for Investing | ASEAN Investmenthttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aseans-road-net-zero-overview-ndcs-southeast-asia-ahead-cop-29-hmqbc/

Promoting Smart and Sustainable Urbanisation in ASEAN: Progress and Challenges - The ASEAN Magazine

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/11/cop29-4-key-takeaways/

Malaysia seeing exponential growth in EV sales, says Zafrul

Seamless mobility critical for special economic zones | The Star

RTS is coming: Why JB urgently needs a public transport overhaul to handle rising commuters | Malay Mail