Mobility and social networking are complementary. Social media fraternity is the expanded virtual footprint of mobility practitioners. Mobility networks have existed for centuries, when goods and people moved from one point to another through various forms of transportation. During these moves, individuals interacted and met continually to discuss business, societal, familial as well as settlement opportunities.
Historically, face to face social networking began in this fashion centuries ago, attributed mainly to mobility. This followed by written and verbalised networking and now the multitude of virtual channels with innumerable gizmos that have expanded social media & connectivity.
The COVID crisis for the last 18+ months, continues to force everyone to think of creative ways to connect & communicate, conduct business, integrate virtual social cohesion, mingle with family and friends. It is expanding the networks to find a balance of off-line and on-line engagements. Several newer ways of working and co-existence have emerged and will only grow, going forward. COVID has established a reset in reviewing the need of travel for every little aspect of one’s life.
As mobility and pertinent patterns evolved through innovation and societal needs, so did its growth through social networking. Individuals in one part of the world are updated about a new vehicle model, new powertrain, technology, and its features in another part of the world through social networking with the click of a button.
The new models and variants, the critiquing of their features and their evolution grew immensely due to social networking. This in turn has surged the desire to touch and feel products in another part of the world, thus resulting in travel as well as other societal impacts.
Social networking and mobility
To keep up with the agility of providing transportation needs with better solutions and products, one could see the growth of engineering & innovation centres to develop sustainable products and manufacturing facilities in different regions of the world, creating huge socio-economic changes globally. These changes ranged from housing development, infrastructure, manufacturing, education, health, and the entire umbrella of macro-economics.
Social networking has been instrumental in growing advanced mobility infrastructure and technologies (xEVs, ADAS) and has enabled implementing safer, fuel efficient and cleaner mobility solutions for consumers. Technologies and mobility product development that were taking longer gestation for introduction in global and Indian markets are now developed in much shorter time horizons.
The awareness as well as consumer demand of features has exploded due to social networks and the consumer demand has helped OEMs better understand consumer needs to develop the right product for the right market efficiently at a faster pace.
Expanding social connectivity
Social connectivity, on the other hand, vastly expanded due to mobility, in great part. The more consumers’ network, the more they become aware of the foreign environs; the more they travel to discover, they invest in housing, tourism, industrialisation, and transportation. On the individual front, although people are virtually connected perennially and can transmit any kind of data across the globe, the emotional quotient and societal connect are better appreciated, while meeting in person.
Today, there are more affordable travel avenues for personal and public transportation. Social connectivity between cultures and businesses could not have materialised without mobility. Better the mobility connection, better is the social connectivity and better is the business sustainability.
Productivity, health aspects, and efficiency has grown due to enhancement of the emotional quotient of individuals. One of the major avenues of growth of emotional quotient can be attributed to mobility and ability to meet in person. This urge to meet and mingle is being catalysed by social networks. The intertwined strengths of social and mobility networks are again visible, through such realities in today’s world.
Social networking in innovation & IP
Another interesting phenomenon impacted by social networking and noticed in product development is the innovation and intellectual property growth. In India, only recently did internet patent search ‘go live’ for easier access to India specific patents. Of late, at knowledge sharing platforms it is common to see mobility engineers discussing patents and innovations with greater transparency.
This has helped improve collaboration in better technologies, features, and frugal product development. Going forward, it will increase the pace of rapid deployment of newer affordable technologies without infringing on existing intellectual property.
Leveraging hackathons, services & solutions, innovative virtual vehicle launches and forums to integrate human aspects of mobility through social media have become a newer way of doing business through social networks.
Enabler for mobility practitioners
Mobility practitioners are delighted that social networking has been a big enabler for percolation of safety and emission norms along with carbon footprint reduction. The standardisation of norms, relevant technologies, creating forums for alignment and opportunities has helped rationalise strategic intents and tactical deployment.
Simultaneously, to enhance social networking and security, mobility practitioners have deployed Intelligent Transportation Systems and telematics for ‘vehicle to vehicle’ and ‘vehicle to remote’ communication. Through telematics, smart movement of cargo and public transportation has become agile, efficient and flexible. Telematics and social networking have transformed vehicles into comfortable ‘living rooms on the wheels’.
Infra for networking, bandwidth and applications on smartphones is helping mobility practitioners develop user friendly mobility solutions, fuel economy calculators, virtual route maps, driverless vehicles, and smarter & efficient fleet management. The agility in deploying any of these, is far superior today, by any mobility practitioner.
In conclusion, the exponential growth of complementary networks of mobility and social media are continuously improving the economy, emotional quotient, and sustainable mobility solutions.