Market Trends of Smart Transportation Industry
Rise of Urbanization, and Population would Drive the Market
- The population growth, coupled with the increasing urbanization rate and megacities, is the primary factor driving the market. Moreover, as the population grows and urbanizes, many cities will face transportation challenges, thus driving the demand for smart transportation. For instance, according to the Population Reference Bureau, in 2022, the degree of urbanization worldwide was 57%. North America was the region with the highest level of urbanization, with over four-fifths of the population residing in urban areas.
- More than half the world's urban population resides in Asia, where some countries, like India and China, already have about a billion people living in cities alone. The other regions with relatively high urban populations are North America, Europe, and Africa. Increasing urbanization indicates the rising complexities in the transportation of cities worldwide. Resolving these complexities is one of the significant challenges faced by the transport markets across these areas. For instance, according to the United Nations, people living in urban areas are expected to reach 68% by 2050.
- Urban population growth will significantly pressure public transport infrastructure. Residents of big cities will expect public transport that is fast, efficient, affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly. Delivering such transportation infrastructure will be one of the critical challenges confronting future cities. Furthermore, rapid urbanization has brought heavy traffic congestion, serious safety issues, and growing urban inequality. Smart transportation solutions have gained significant traction in the past few years across many highly urbanized cities to overcome such challenges by delivering real-time travel and traffic information with resilient network control.
- Furthermore, besides increasing traffic congestion, the urban areas and megacities face several other transport-related problems, such as growing emissions of pollutants and depleting fuel resources that adversely impact the overall well-being of any major city. To make transport management more effective, several cities worldwide are trying to create intelligence into existing systems by adopting smart transportation systems, which is expected to drive the market's growth at a rapid pace.
- Moreover, urban transportation is becoming crucial for a better quality of life for citizens in any city. Today cities worldwide are expanding to incredible sizes. The rising maturation rate of megacities worldwide and multiple innovations taking place in the technology field for the transportation sector are further driving the market's growth.
Asia Pacific is Expected to Register Fastest Growth
- China outlined a recent comprehensive transportation system in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). According to the circular, by 2025, China will have made achievements in pursuing intelligent and green transportation, as well as significant advances in overall competence, service quality, and efficiency of the transportation industry. This plan aims to improve the transportation industry's roads, trains, ports, and waterways and the technology and human resources involved. As a result, this will support growth in urbanization, consumer demand, and factor supply movements.
- Smart transportation is quickly expanding in Japan with the introduction of smart transportation networks, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). Smart transportation networks require IoT architecture, which includes technologies such as the cloud, sensors, and data communication. Rapid improvements in recent years have made it feasible to enhance device communication.
- Australia has been developing traffic management technologies interacting with drivers and infrastructure operators to reduce traffic congestion and enhance safety and traffic conditions. The country has a diverse and complex transportation infrastructure network, creating an opportunity for the market players in the country due to the increasing demand for smart transportation technologies.
- The rest of Asia-Pacific consists of many emerging countries, including Singapore, India, and South Korea. The emergence of smart cities in these countries is increasing the adoption of intelligent technologies in transportation to enhance traffic efficiencies, creating a market opportunity for technology providers.
- Countries in the region are also helping each other by investing and partnering in the market adoption in Asia-Pacific. For instance, in December 2022, India and South Korea agreed to a loan of INR 1,495 crore (USD 183.14 million) from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of Korea to construct an intelligent transport system on the Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway.