Pervasive Computing for Transit and Transport

M obility has always been an essential part of everyday life—even thousands of years ago, nomadic communities moved constantly to find food and better living conditions. Similarly, technology has always affected mobility, thereby shaping how we live. Initially, the domestication of animals for transport and the introduction of the wheel provided new prospects for people. In the last 200 years, basic technological innovations— such as electricity, motors, and petrol engines—have enabled new means of transportation, including trains, cars, buses, trams, trucks, and airplanes. These transport systems have massively changed how we live and work and how we access, manufacture, deliver, and consume goods. Access to shops, services, schools, friends, and so on requires transportation. Looking across the globe, it becomes readily apparent how different transportation systems have shaped the ways in which people organize their lives, build their habitats, run their economic systems, and interact in society. Looking forward, with computing technologies becoming pervasive, we expect to see many new forms of mobility emerging with corresponding changes to our transport behavior.