Co-creating the future of Afrikan mobility

In October 2019 a global report framing the status of Autonomous vehicles was released, capturing the state of play from multiple interviews and a series of five workshops held in Frankfurt, Singapore, Los Angeles, Wellington and Melbourne. The second phase of this international conversation entails further rigorous engagement in order to collect and relay more insight into where the future of mobility lies, and what it may look and feel like. The spaces identified by the report are undoubtedly well known for the ways in which mobility infrastructure aids in navigating urban spaces and rejuvenating those less so through finding innovative solutions to better integrated mobility systems (Powell et al, 2019). Although the report talks about perspectives from several regions, each offering insight in similarities and differences in order to provide a more ‘holistic’ outlook, Afrika is undoubtedly and quite noticeably absent throughout the document. This means that Afrika is not only absent within the conceptual phase of creating a more inclusive and intersectional framework of what mobility in itself is, but that the global narrative that is being shaped is completely out of touch with the realities, resources and innovative approaches of the continent.

The report identifies that this is a wicked problem, one that is complex and nuanced with many contributing factors, and as such, is using an Open Foresight Approach which looks at how significant change can be achieved by combining technological development, emerging regulation and societal attitudes. What this means is that the Afrikan experience is completely absent from the global understanding of diverse development, regulation and societal attitudes due to multiple historical trajectories that have critically impacted the ways in which Afrikan countries relate to the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure, socio-political and economic mobility.

Furthermore, it means that as a continent we will inherit monolithic western conceptions of technology and regulatory measures, as well as the prescribed attitudes that go along with the experience of mobility these technologies and regulations will create.

Public transport in South Africa was significantly disrupted by the arrival of Uber, due to the lack of legislation in place to respond to transportation network companies. This means that even after the legislation is able to catch up to the technology and what it has given access to, deeper disruptions caused by the way in which the initial shift unrolled, will be even more difficult to address and correct from an internal investment point of view. A significant portion of the money spent by South Africans who use Uber as a regular means of mobility, leaves the country almost immediately, a significant loss to internal transport systems that would feedback that investment in improved services and infrastructure. In a country where low-wage labourers rely on public transport and its (albeit slow) improvement almost completely, Uber’s long term impact will have major implications (Rogers, 2015). It does, however, challenge local public transport service providers to look into what public goals are being advanced and how local government can use that as an indicator to mirror that in the ways they invest in mobility.

Being reactionary to these kinds of disruptions instead of participating aggressively in responding systemically, has shown to be ineffective and further perpetuates exclusion as seen with the rollout of fibre connectivity in the last few years. Internet connectivity is being recognised as a basic human right, however is still largely economically inaccessible to most of the population due to high data costs especially in South Africa. Affluent suburbs have seen a massive roll-out of optic fibre infrastructure, bringing high-speed connectivity and access to those who can afford, economically cancelling access to the less fortunate majority almost immediately. Moreover, even if the rollout itself was more accessible, the high cost of usage would still render this a financial impossibility for the majority. Wi-fi and fibre infrastructure, much like any other radically innovative product, if left unchecked, will only go where the money is. Even though these fibre companies are using government infrastructure like roads, they are not being held accountable by the government as to where it happens and whom it is predominantly serving. The same will happen when autonomous vehicles and mobility go unchecked, becoming a luxury only the elite can enjoy and use to further their access to resources through connectivity. This is why South Africa and the continent as a whole need to see this as a catalyst of integration and innovation, where Afrikans take ownership and drive development according to the needs and trajectory of our own experiences instead of a blueprint forced on us by an out-of-touch hegemonic discourse.

A knee-jerk reaction is often that Afrika has its own set of more pressing issues that require resources and intervention, and should busy itself with that instead of trying to prematurely enter a dialogue that requires a particular level of infrastructure and political stability. Though this is true, considering the current state of many Afrikan countries and the immediate need, it would however, be even more premature to create a silo of development based on the assumption that involving Afrika in the conversation from its inception is not necessary. On the contrary, being a significant part of the conversation will create channels that can alleviate and address many of those issues. This is why it is so important that an Afrikan future mobility ecosystem is created, where thought leadership, integrative knowledge systems and intersectionality are part of the fundamental pillars when engaging the reality of autonomous mobility.

The report makes reference to Japan’s focus on “access for the elderly” as part of the government’s mandate regarding autonomous vehicles and mobility (Powell et al, 2019). What is our mandate with regard to autonomous vehicles and mobility? This is where positionality and our developmental trajectory will position us in a way that requires Afrikan solutions.

South Afrika is still in a socio-political and economic hangover from apartheid as an extension of the colonial project, more than 25 years after our democracy. This means that our historical discourse quite physically shapes the ways in which we need to even look at what mobility is and what autonomous mobility should look like, as our democracy is still very young compared to the flagship locations as noted in the report. Our socio-political and economic history means that we have a particular intersectional experience that has shaped the ways we do things, see things and innovate. It requires a consciousness around how and why South Africans move the way we do, with the intent to shape how we ourselves want to change that and why based on the needs, ideas and lived experiences we have. This means that starting the conversation around autonomous mobility requires unpacking conversations around inequity and inequality, the dismantling of Apartheid spatial planning, access and agency, and most importantly, safety and dignity. South Africa’s mandate with respect to autonomous vehicles and mobility needs to be shaped by those who currently understand and experience the realities that come with a lack of mobility as a result of our historical and present socio-political and economic juncture. An opportunity exists for government, academia and industry to collaborate in creating a new conducive ecosystem that heroes Afrikan thought leadership and problem-solving in the field of autonomous vehicles and mobility.

 “ As transportation is usually a proxy for social mobility it must not simply be a means of transporting people back and forth from work but it must also allow everyone to cheaply, easily and safely access the length and breadth of the city...Autonomous systems offer a natural pathway to this goal, however they are currently being developed and deployed for contexts and priorities that are vastly different from the ones we are interested in. Simply imitating these systems, without adjusting for the very important context that we are in only serves to tokenize progress without bringing actionable change”

  Driving Afrika’s Future: Mobility for All - Dr Paul Amayo

Dr Amayo frames the approach and the reasoning behind it so aptly, in the ways in which he is very conscious of how capitalism and institutions function when pursuing a bottom line without any intention of sustainable, ethical contribution and development. Instead of seeing the potential of autonomous vehicles as a premature Western goal for external companies to continue toward perpetuating uneven access and profitability, there is an exciting push towards seeing this as a collaborative initiative of the state. It poses the opportunity to technologically advance public transport provision, championing multifaceted mandates from a decolonial perspective, seeing “mobility as a long term opportunity” (Powell et al, 2019) by tailoring it to the continental conversation. In doing so, it moves away from seeing mobility as a luxury and rather as a fundamental utility everyone should and can have access to, reshaping the ways in which development is understood and pursued.

This is because the industry is about selling a service, not vehicles, as we see so many motor manufacturers repositioning themselves and their business models from a sales driven approach to a service industry business. What this means is that the revenue generation over the lifetime of the vehicle far exceeds the once-off sales transaction when selling a new vehicle. The revenue therefore lies in the technology providing the service and not the sale of the physical vehicle. This creates a golden window for Afrika to position itself in the technology arena to develop systems that ensure that the revenue does not leave the continent and instead, feeds back into improving the infrastructure it needs to roll out self-informed systems more efficiently. This is critical as revenue forecasts for this space, relative to autonomous vehicles is estimated to be worth $3.5 trillion by 2050 (Powell et al, 2019). If Afrika does not prepare for this, we will not only see immense resources leaving the continent, but also the imposition of tone-deaf products and regulation as a result of being excluded from the development and conception of the entire process and roll-out.

It is important to remember that micro-mobility is massive continentally, and in places like South Africa and Nigeria, where our economic capabilities are relatively stronger than most other Afrikan countries, the onset of autonomous mobility and the repercussions will hit us first. This calls for a paradigm shift in the way global innovation is locally conceptualised, and collaboration, information sharing and supportive regulation are prioritised in order to meet the economic and environmental expectations. It calls for a change in how we think about solutions and problem-solving in the way design thinking shifts away from normative, one-dimensional processes of innovation.

                    “Rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach which pulls from past experience and ‘outside-in’ perspectives, design thinking goes deep to the source of the problem and invites multiple stakeholders to co-design solutions from an ‘inside out’ approach. Together with community members and people from private, public and academic sectors, systems thinking and design thinking allows us to ask more systemic questions and find more authentic, robust solutions that work for a particular time and place.”

                                                     The Afrikan Triple Helix - A Jamie & Z Palmer, 2019.

This calls for a creative ecosystem that will shape the reality of autonomous mobility with a mandate of innovative mobility solutions to co-create a better life for all, not just those with pockets that are deep enough to make a luxury of a basic human right. It emphasises that even though the continent has many problems to solve above and beyond the urgency of autonomous mobility, it understands that autonomous mobility itself can be a much needed catalyst to that will not only contribute to solving many of those problems but will be an incredible indicator of discourses that need decolonial reimagining in order for it to be sustainable. The continental conversation cannot stop just because the West has not included us in theirs. In fact, it spurs vigour to approach it with all our current challenges in mind with the intent of making it part of the solution, and not an additional burden, for when we architect our own future, we can build it not to accommodate others, but to shape it in line with our own Afrikan vision.

References:

Amayo, P; 2019. Driving Afrika’s Future: Mobility For All; UCT Futures Catalyst

Future Agenda Limited; 2019. The Future of Autonomous Vehicles An Interim Report based on Multiple Expert Discussions

Gross, A.K , 2019. Sub-Saharan Africa and the 4th Industrial Revolution Technological Leapfrogging as a Strategy to enhance Economic Growth?

Jamie, A; Palmer, Z August 2019. The Afrikan Triple helix. Institute of Futures Research, Stellenbosch University

Rogers, B, 2015. The social cost of Uber, 82 U Chi L Rev Dialogue 85.

Hotchkiss, A., Jarman, .F, Jarman, F.,Powell, D., Tamberrino , D. 2019. The Future of Mobility : Ride-hailing and new businesses to fuel $7tn+ global mobility market .Goldman Sachs Report, pp1- 30.