The 14th and, for the time being, last meeting of the NPM Steering Committee was dominated by discussions and acknowledgements. All participants in the meeting were called upon to evaluate the work of the NPM as the central advisory body of the Federal Government on future mobility issues over the past almost 40 months. In addition, the heads of the working groups drew a conclusion of their work and named the need for action for the upcoming legislative period.
The overall assessment of the NPM’s work was very positive, because the NPM was taken seriously and listened to in politics. This was also made clear by the outgoing Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer in his video message. He emphasized the importance of the platform as a “think tank, impetus generator and innovation driver for all future mobility issues” and stressed that a place like the NPM will continue to be needed in the future.
With its more than 50 reports, the NPM has clearly shown the status of the transformation, formulated far-reaching recommendations for action for the forward-looking design of the mobility system, and clearly and transparently presented the options for action in climate protection in transport, alternative fuels, and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Policymakers have taken up many of the NPM’s proposals, including in the Climate Protection Program 2030 or the Infrastructure Masterplan, and have supported and promoted initiatives such as the Real Lab for Digital Mobility in Hamburg or regional competence hubs for mobility sector employees and personnel development tools. The NPM also sat at the table at all meetings of the Chancellor’s Concerted Action on Mobility (KAM).
The LK members were unanimously in favor of continuing the committee in a suitable form. The topics and interests with regard to the future of mobility are so diverse and large that they can only be examined and advanced in a comprehensive manner and together with all stakeholders. The tenor of the LK members was that it was only through the holistic approach that interrelationships became fully visible and the challenges were addressed in a fact-oriented manner. It remains to be seen whether an advisory body like the NPM will be continued under the new government or relaunched in a different format.
The debate was very much welcomed by all participants. The trusting and appreciative framework provided by the NPM was particularly praised.
In addition to the debate, WG 3 Digitalization for the Mobility Sector presented two new reports:
Interim Report on Autonomous Driving (AD)
The NPM defines autonomous driving as automation levels from Level 4 onwards. From this level onwards, road vehicles can drive autonomously without the driver having to be able to take over immediately. The integration of autonomous vehicles into fleets, especially in local public transport, plays an important role in the establishment of AD. AD in this sense requires extensive legal prerequisites, some of which have already been set in motion by the German government.
Field Report from the Real Lab for Digital Mobility Hamburg (RealLabHH) and Concluding Recommendations
Whether and how users accept new forms of mobility can best be investigated in the field. The holistic testing of networked mobility and the sub-aspects of a digitalized and intermodally organized mobility system has been proved to be successful over the past one and a half years in the Real Lab for Digital Mobility in Hamburg (RealLabHH). From this, recommendations for action were derived along the four thematic fields of the WG: inter- and multimodal mobility, autonomous mobility, networking and data exchange, and social dialog.
