Over the last few years the discussions around smart mobility in India has gotten restricted or constrained to electric vehicle (EVs) and the future of EVs.

However, we have broken through that and are now talking about a shared, connected, as well as a greener and cleaner world.

What needs to be put in place at the level of policy is more harmonisation across regulations. There is a huge variance in what the center is doing and what various state governments are doing and we need to see a degree of uniformity across all of that.

However, what is also important to note is what is happening in the world of innovation and startups to take the idea forward.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Pradeep Parameswaran, President India of Uber, Amit Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Yulu Bikes, Greg Moran, Founder and CEO of ZoomCar, Amit Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Shuttl, discussed how travel is getting smarter.

“The space has evolved very quickly. If you put us in the seat 6 months from now, my answer is going to be different. I think the moment of truth for the sector is here and now, which is if you really want to solve for good quality transportation that is affordable and reliable, if you truly want to solve for congestion, and if you want to solve for making the air better, we have to make some very decisive moves now,” said Parameswaran.

While Amit Gupta said, “I believe that integrated mobility is answer to a lot of our traffic congestion and air quality problems. Ultimately people have to move from A to B and the path we can take is what we have done for telecom, opening the sector for other companies to come in.”

Speaking about ownership versus shares services, Moran said, “It is remarkable that you are seeing a transformation in terms of mentality. When I first came to India in 2011, the ownership mentality was still very much deeply engrained and then with players like Uber, Ola, Zoom, etc. you are starting to see a very clear migration away from this essence of ownership.”

First Published:Nov 2, 2018 11:24 AM IST