Dr. Maria J. Alonso leads the Autonomous Systems portfolio at the World Economic Forum, spearheading the ongoing work around software-defined vehicles, vehicle autonomy, advanced air mobility, and robotics. In this role, she connects policy, industry, and innovation, and collaborates with C-suite and VP-level executives worldwide to ensure the responsible development and deployment of these technologies.
Before joining the Forum, Maria worked at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the World Bank. She has also held roles in a major infrastructure company and a boutique transport consultancy, and has advanced degrees in transport, engineering, and business.
1. What will you be speaking about at IAA MOBILITY?
We recently published a whitepaper on the timeline and roadmap ahead for autonomous vehicles. When it comes to passenger vehicles, our analysis forecasts that it will be assisted (L2 and L2+ in particular), and not automated technologies, that will be dominating in new vehicle sales in the coming 10+ years in Europe, USA, China and beyond.
At IAA MOBILITY I will be presenting some of these key findings, and we will be discussing the needed actions to unlock the full potential of L2/L2+ technologies. Join us on Thursday 11th in the Main Stage for more!
2. How important is IAA MOBILITY as a platform to drive forward innovative ideas and collaborations?
IAA MOBILITY is the leading automotive event in Europe. Its importance is only growing with the ongoing industry transformation and Europe’s focus on maintaining sector leadership. In times of change like this, collaboration is key for speed, efficiency, and safety. IAA MOBILITY is a fantastic event to bring relevant industry leaders together and contribute to these goals.
3. What are your goals for IAA MOBILITY 2025, and which topics are your main focus?
I have three main goals for IAA MOBILITY. First, to connect with old and new friends in the SDV and AV space. Second, to have insightful conversations, especially about ensuring a trusted technology foundation for SDVs and AVs developments, which is the current focus of our ongoing work. And third, to once again bring together our highly regarded World Economic Forum “DRIVE-A: Vehicle Ecosystems and Autonomy” executive community. We will be doing so in collaboration with Accenture. This year, we held DRIVE-A executive workshops at CES in Las Vegas and at Auto Shanghai, and IAA MOBILITY is the logical next meeting point to advance our joint work.
4. What advances in autonomous driving do you see reaching market maturity in the next five years?
As mentioned earlier, when it comes to personal vehicles, we expect to continue seeing predominantly vehicles with L2/L2+ technologies being sold in 2030, and even in 2035+. Our analyses also suggests that there will be 20-40 cities with large-scale robotaxi deployments in 2030, and 40-80 cities by 2035, most of them in the USA and China. We also expect relevant progress in autonomous trucks over the coming 5-10 years, especially for hub-to-hub operations. For more details on the forecasts, I encourage you to look into our whitepaper, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group: “Autonomous Vehicles: Timeline and Roadmap Ahead”.
5. How crucial is the close integration of infrastructure and vehicle technology for the success of autonomous mobility?
Much less than I thought it would be a couple of years ago. The many autonomous mobility stakeholders I have spoken with agree that missing V2X infrastructure is not an issue, and that initial deployments are not relying on it (they cannot wait until V2X is in place to deploy their technologies). Instead, V2X is considered a nice-to-have for additional safety and redundancy if governments decide to invest in it (just as they invest in traffic lights). This view is widely shared across private sector stakeholders in different geographies, including China.
6. What challenges do you currently see in scaling autonomous technologies for the mass market?
The biggest challenges are continuing to build public trust, continuing to make the technology safer and more reliable (public trust needs to be earned based on proven safety and reliability!), and developing clear harmonised regulations that facilitate scaling across regions. The industry also needs to continue collaborating to ensure readiness of the whole ecosystem beyond just the vehicle, and we need sustainable business models that enable long-term viability.
7. What innovative approaches or demonstrations of autonomous vehicles do you expect at the IAA MOBILITY?
I am looking forward to seeing more autonomous shuttles. If we want autonomous vehicles to address urban congestion, we need to increase vehicle occupancy; otherwise, we will be reducing occupancy even further with empty rides.
I am also very much looking forward to riding on EDGAR, the autonomous research vehicle from the Technical University of Munich, my alma mater.
8. Which partners or stakeholders would you like to connect with at IAA MOBILITY, and why?
I am eager to build new relationships with a wide range of industry leaders driving the vehicle autonomy transformation, from established players to the newest disruptors in the field, and from OEMs and suppliers to operators and insurers. And, as mentioned earlier, I look forward to reconnecting with our DRIVE-A executive community. I also look forward to more discussions with city leaders and public sector stakeholders as they prepare to welcome autonomous vehicles on their roads.
9. How do you envision the future of mobility – and what specific changes do you expect in the next ten years?
When it comes to the key ADAS and vehicle autonomy forecasts, I refer to the points raised in the earlier questions. But I want to highlight three related areas that deserve more attention:
First, valet parking. I expect automated valet parking to become widespread. This use case is highly convenient, yet it often gets overshadowed in today’s conversations.
Second, curb space. Cities with significant autonomous fleets will have the opportunity to redesign curb space, reallocating it from parking to terraces, benches, greenery, etc.
And third, Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Autonomous vehicles will make it easier for municipalities to increasingly tax road use in congested cities, and this, in turn, will make multimodal mobility choices more attractive, boosting transport efficiency and supporting healthier, more sustainable mobility options for cities and their citizens.