VW-owned car brand teams up with IT giant IBM to develop phone app aimed at helping users make greener urban travel choices
Car brand SEAT has teamed up with IT giant IBM to develop a new mobile phone app to help people make greener urban travelling choices, with a view to shifting people out of their private cars towards public transport, carsharing, bikesharing, and electric scooters.
The 'Mobility Advisor' uses IBM Watson AI software to help "revolutionise urban mobility" by informing peoples' decisions about daily transportations options, Volkswagen-owned SEAT announced today.
Currently under development and designed to run on 4G and 5G networks, the Mobility Advisor is able to learn a user's travel preferences and make personalised recommendations for how best to complete a city journey, the firm explained.
It adapts to changing conditions by taking into account weather forecasts, traffic reports, and events in a city each day, while incorporating a user's personal appointments and historical data about previous travel choices in order to suggest the best mode of transportation "even if that means leaving the car behind, walking, or using one of SEAT'S e-Kick scooters for the part of the journey," it said.
The announcement came at the Mobile Wold Congress in Barcelona, where SEAT also unveiled an electric concept vehicle - the Minimó - featuring a battery swap system that it envisages will enable it to fully recharge "in a matter of minutes".
Combining "the best of a motorcycle and a car", the 2.5 metre-long, short-distance EV is designed for city driving and can park in motorbike parking areas, according to SEAT, which estimates its battery swap system could slash car-sharing operating costs by up to 50 per cent.
The Minimó concept EV | Credit: SEAT
Both announcements form part of SEAT's 'micromobility' strategy to provide personalised, environmentally-friendly options for drivers, including small cars and scooters. The company argues e-scooters, bikes, and small EVs can help lower carbon footprints in cities, particularly for journeys over short distances of less than 8km, which are estimated to make up around 60 per cent of car trips worldwide.
"Traffic congestion and environmental challenges are putting huge pressure on cities to transform," said Jordi Caus, SEAT's head of new urban mobility concepts. "At SEAT we are leading the way by working with innovative cities and technology companies to come up with solutions to make mobility easier and more efficient. With its advanced cloud and AI technologies, IBM is helping us to innovate new approaches to mobility that will transform our business strategy while improving the lives of people living in urban areas."
SEAT's research and development team will continue working with IBM technicians to develop the Mobility Advisor's proof of concept and its different potential applications, the firm said.
Juan Ramon Gutierrez Villar, industry solutions leader at IBM Global Markets, said IT and cloud-based software had huge potential to effect change across the car and transport industries.
"With the roll-out of 5G networks in cities in the coming years, the possibilities for transforming the driver experience are limitless," he said.