Inspiring mobility
Writing, thinking, imagining, proposing, making mistakes. We constantly add value to our environment through knowledge. We build connections that lead to mental structures and, eventually, to new ideas. We are living in the Knowledge Society.
With this in mind, our brains need to be able to constantly work until those ideas and mental structures actually mean something and can be shared with others. We also need a constant influx of information for those ideas to evolve as we interpret things around us.
Today, we are bombarded by thousands of inputs every day; many more than in the past. Multiple screens, speakers, conversations and ads continuously impact us and generate a “noise” that can be hard to block out so the brain can have space to develop ideas. If you have children you’ll know how hard it is to find these moments unless you’re prepared to give up on sleep. Fortunately, however, we do still manage to come up with ideas at times, despite social media, TV, housework, monotonous work, etc.
Early 21st century urban mobility consists of a set of transport modes that either demand the full attention from the person travelling, as with private vehicles, or are shared and generally regarded as uncomfortable, overcrowded or ill-suited to finding enough personal space to be able to develop ideas.
Private personal mobility (i.e. being driven around by another person) would certainly provide the required personal space but is still out of reach for most people. This is where the imminent arrival of autonomous vehicles on our roads could make this kind of comfort a reality for everyone. It remains to be seen how this technology will develop within our society and at what pace. In the meantime, we need new solutions to make mobility a more inspiring space to be in.
At Shotl, we firmly believe in and facilitate a transit mode that offers the autonomy of a private vehicle without the cost while avoiding the inconvenience of public transport. On demand shared mobility may just be the solution we need to get the headspace we need to come up with new ideas.
