Qualcomm and Arup outline a vision for urban mobility in tomorrow’s cities

If you look at most major cities, it’s clear we are on the cusp of an urban evolution. In fact, over the next 40 years, more than 70 percent of the population will reside in urban environments, an increase from 50 percent today. However, this rapid urban population increase can create issues for cities relating to their infrastructure, energy, transportation, government and health care initiatives.

As a solution, cities across the world are implementing Smart Connectivity to leverage a full suite of technologies including 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Small Cells, IoE Solutions and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm is collaborating with these cities to show them the power of connectivity, and to help create policies that will better serve our communities of the future.

So how will this innovation affect our everyday life? Imagine New York City no longer a tangle of physical pipes, wires and roads, but a city full of sustainable connectivity solutions. Perhaps you’re running late to a meeting and your phone intuitively notifies you of a nearby vehicle from an autonomous ride sharing service, helping to reduce your anxiety about finding a parking spot and giving you extra time to prep for your meeting in-transit. Or imagine yourself in the middle of the city with a dead phone battery. You don’t have any coins, but you urgently need to get in contact with your friend. Instead of relying on a payphone, new initiatives like LinkNYC can provide you with free city-wide Wi-Fi connectivity at Gigabit speeds and free nationwide phone calls from any Link kiosk in the city.

Recognizing the need to develop tangible solutions like these, we’ve collaborated with Arup—a group of designers, planners, consultants and technical specialists—on a whitepaper to provide an innovative strategy for tomorrow’s cities. The whitepaper, “Intelligent Connectivity for Seamless Urban Mobility,” details a combination of facts and figures about tomorrow’s cities and highlights four key user journeys of how technology will enable new means of mobility and flexibility in the future. In one example, you’ll meet the Sharmas, a family traveling to San Francisco from Italy. Thanks to intelligent mobile connectivity, the Sharmas are able to navigate their way in a new country via their mobile devices. From checking into the hotel while at the airport, to reserving seats on a train, they navigate their daily activities and travel with ease via connectivity solutions which are safer, better and healthier.

Be sure to take a look at the whitepaper, “Intelligent Connectivity for Seamless Urban Mobility,” to find out more about how Qualcomm is evolving the connected cities of the future.