Smart cities use technology to augment their urban services—transportation, utilities and energy—to improve efficiency, reduce wastage and operate more sustainably. The United Nations has initiated the United Smart Cities programme to develop and scale up the concept. Over 500 Chinese cities began their transition to a smart city last year. The government of India, too, launched the Smart Cities Mission to develop 100 Indian cities to be sustainable and citizen friendly.
The 2017 Smart Cities Index used ‘transport and mobility’ as one of the critical parameters in its ranking of cities. As cities turn “smart”, smart transportation is a crucial element in realising their vision. In India today, for example, only 20 cities with populations of over 500,000 have organised public transport systems, pointing to the large gap to be bridged in their journey to turn smart.
In March 2019, Siemens upgraded its smart transportation product portfolio. The new eHighway system, according to the company, is twice as efficient as conventional internal combustion engines. This Siemens Mobility innovation supplies trucks with power from an overhead contact line.
In 2019 Cisco and Dimension Data announced a new co-innovation agreement, to develop a deeper collaboration environment and framework to jointly solve clients’ business needs.
In 2018, the market of Smart Transportation market revenue has been fragmented by the top five players accounting for 52% of the share.
How Could Global Smart Transportation Market Addresses The COVID-19 Concerns?
In December 2019, reports began to emerge of an outbreak of a new respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from Wuhan, China. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. To date, there have been over 200,000 recorded cases in 166 countries and nearly 9,000 deaths.
The current impact of the coronavirus pandemic leads to travel bans, shopping centers empty, social gatherings prohibited, and many individuals quarantined or simply afraid to go out - the disruption to normal life is considerable. One of the most impacted fields from the virus is, of course, urban transportation.
With transmission rates higher in crowded spaces, a busy bus or crammed subway carriage seems a likely breeding ground for the virus to spread. It’s therefore unsurprising that worldwide public transport use has rapidly declined. In New York, ridership on the subway is dramatically down, March 11 saw 948,000 fewer trips than an average weekday in January. This trend is also being seen in other US cities, such as San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which has reported an 85% decline in ridership and a 50% reduction of economic activity.
For those who still need to get around cities during the pandemic, alternative travel modes such as cycling and walking present a viable option. According to The New York Times, there has been a dramatic increase in biking with the city’s bike share program seeing a 67% usage increase in March 2020 compared to the previous year. Chicago too, has seen a dramatic rise with a nearly 100% jump compared to the same time the year before.
In Denmark, authorities have encouraged residents taking shorter journeys to walk or cycle instead of using high-risk travel modes such as public transit.
Rising requirement for advanced lubricants coupled with an increase in the focus of the Industrial manufacturers to expand their production capacities are expected to propel the market growth.
Owing to this, as of 2018, the Indian industrial lubricants market size stood at $4.68 billion in 2018 and the demand for the industrial lubricant is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.60% during the forecast period 2019-2025.The Indian automotive industry size is projected to reach between $251.4 and $282.8 billion by 2026.
Additionally, the government of India in the 2019 budget has announced to invest $61 billion to improve the infrastructure facilities across the country, fuelling the growth of the Indian industrial lubricant market.
Various synthetic lubricants such as polyolefins, esters, silicones, and fluorocarbons are also gaining prominence in a gamut of industries, which is further catapulting the Indian industrial lubricants market size.
The “Make in India” initiative by the Indian government has also influenced the growth of manufacturing industry in the country to make India a global manufacturing hub.
Heavy equipment dominates the demand for industrial lubricants in the industry.
