Transportation is responsible for about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and the US. Current transportation infrastructure and the networks that keep people and goods moving (mobility) pose significant direct health and safety risks and present a major impediment to decarbonization. In addition, inefficient systems result in (among other problems) traffic congestion with cascading economic cost as a result.
Fortunately, rapid innovation in vehicle technology, mobile connectivity, computer hardware, and AI-based information systems are driving profound socio-technical change in the transportation sector. What WiSo Professor Wolfgang Ketter refers to as ‘CASE’ technologies (connected, automated, shared, and electric) require a layer of digital infrastructure to manage the complexity inherent in sustainable and efficient transportation and mobility.
Technologies that were unimaginable just 20 years ago are now opening unexpected social, technical, and economic opportunities in the marriage of the ICT and transportation sectors. This transformation presents unique characteristics and challenges that require innovative solutions. Ketter is convinced that information systems solutions can benefit users, providers, and the environment. With its multifaceted focus on data and society, information systems are particularly well suited to contribute to an environmentally-, socially-, and economically-sustainable mobility and transportation landscape.
In his paper "Information Systems Research for Smart Sustainable Mobility: A Framework and Call for Action", Wolfgang Ketter, Professor of Information Systems and Sustainability at the CIIS of the WiSo Faculty, calls for a more active role among the Information Systems discipline in the creation of a smart and sustainable mobility system. He outlines a research framework to guide the efforts of Information Systems scientists. A common understanding of what constitutes smart and sustainable mobility provides a springboard to a systemic perspective on different research areas that serve as starting points a structured research agenda in the field of intelligent mobility.