Founded in 2012, Autobahn is digitalizing the automotive industry by providing a platform that restructure business operations and communication between manufacturers, importers and dealers. We discussed with Autobahn Co-founder Martin Piirmaa about future mobility trends and how to overcome the resulting challenges.
How will we move from a to b in 2037?
Fast… To be honest, this question is very similar to ask what will the weather be in 2037. The one thing we know is that we’re living in a fast-scale environment, where technology drives most of the forces. During the last decade we witnessed more than during the previous last 50 years. Not only on the technology standpoint, but everything has improved from science to health. We are in the mode where we’re exploring new possibilities and thanks to the advantage of technology we could start to deliver ideas to reality.
The growth of technology has open new dimensions by creating new features and trends that we currently do not have any clue of. For instance, AI which currently is in its baby steps will turn everything we know upside down. We don’t know, where it could lead us, but one thing is sure – we’re moving on with a tremendous pace and it will enable a better environment for all of us.
Regarding logistics, transport and how we will move from a to b in 2037 – based on today’s technologies and the bursts of improvements, I’m pretty sure that vehicles will not be attached on the roads and the whole infrastructure as we know will change. Right now we’re successfully testing our first self-driving vehicles, which means that we’re already cutting out the most important link – the drivers.
Before it’s 2037, we have 20 more years of exploration and scientists working on new innovative projects, which leads to a totally new thinking. Technology and new solutions are moving further much faster than our minds can handle and so we have to change our mindsets to create new innovative solutions.
Long story short, I think that 2037 will look more like the Hollywood blockbuster 5th Element than our current environment. We will see flying vehicles passing by and a new wave in moving from a to b. Even infrastructure as we know it today will change as we have less vehicles on the ground then in the air. This will lead to a much cleaner and less polluted environment.
How is your software preparing the automotive industry for the mobility of the future?
Autobahn is providing a transparent, connected and viable platform for a more connected automotive world. Mobility starts with connectivity that enables vehicles companies to manage its business anywhere, anyhow. Thanks to Autobahn – vehicle companies and the distribution channels are connected in a new transparent way. Autobahn is a strong foundation for future growth as we are responsible for the digital business data and keep the back-end visible for all connected stakeholders.
What are the biggest business challenges you are facing today?
The biggest business challenges today are convincing big corporations to improve their bureaucracy, which is a major party-pooper in developing new technologies. We need to get past the large-scale legacy systems that are innovation blockers and big corporations have to start think like startups – to be more innovative. They have the funds to finance innovation, but the company structures from idea to reality creates a long path to deliver it – to many obstacles on the way up.
The main challenge is to convince big corporations to be more agile and start co-operations with smaller companies or startups. We can already see that trend happening in the world, but still some barriers are still crucial for future growth.
What are your three demands addressed to politics on an international level?
Politics on an international level should operate more like startups, which is desire and need based. The methodology to deliver it should be like agile software development. Processes and decisions are taking obviously too long and that creates unhappy environment with steady results. Politics need to be faster and more focused on actual problems. As they say – happy wife, happy life.
My three wishes would be the following: