The EU’s transport commissioner has outlined a future in which the number of cars on European roads are halved, autonomy is much more common and the car becomes part of a multi-modal transport network.
“I know people will still want to own cars, and they will be part of the transport solution, but the car will become a module to support the needs of individuals, companies and society,” European transport commissioner Violeta Bulc (pictured below) told delegates at the 2018 FT Future of the Car Summit.
UK new car market suffers biggest decline in Europe
The EU has a vision for transport by 2050 that focuses on road safety, environment, self-driving, digitisation and red tape.
Under the banner 'Vision Zero', Bulc explained the EU wants to reduce road fatalities, transport emissions and red tape to zero.
“Everything we do in the European Commission will be focused on the three zeroes,” Bulc said.
Bulc recognised that Europe has the safest roads in the world but that 25,000 deaths and 137,000 injuries are still too many, asking: “Why did we agree that transport kills?”
The legislative pressure on car makers to introduce greener cars will only increase.
Bulc added: “The toll on our health is really high; 24% comes from road transport — far more than road accidents. Why is that acceptable? We are pushing for more clean cars to be used throughout the EU.”
Speaking about car ownership, Bulc predicted that the number of owners would decrease, while the number of people holding driving licences would similarly go down.
