Page 42 - ITLN JAN-FEB 2022 for Magzter
P. 42

Event Report
              Hypermotion
              Dubai




























         travelling on smart highways resulting
         in safer journeys.
           “There will be fewer roads,” said Dr.
         Nahid, “and there will be underground
         roads with NEOM in Saudi Arabia
         among the few in the world now
         emphasizing underground networks for
         transportation and utilities.”
           Dr. Georges Aoude, CEO & co-
         founder, Derq said the road network of
         2071 would be “electric, connected and   Multi-Modal passenger and logistics   “Technology is the backbone of Asyad
         autonomous” and said policy makers   the future for urban sustainability  and enabled us to weather the pandemic
         and regulators could face unpopular   Florian Lennert, head of mobility   by adopting new business models which
         choices such as road usage charges.  for NEOM – Saudi Arabia’s new     made us resistant,” he disclosed. “In
                                            future linear city – said multi-modal   addition, because of our geographic
         Virgin Hyperloop’s cargo and       passenger and freight systems would   position, we were in a better position to
         logistics hopes                    define the future and help control   mitigate the risks of disruption besetting
         Harj Dhaliwal, managing director,   traffic and emissions in an age of   China and the USA.”
         Middle East & India of Virgin Hyperloop   pressing sustainability demand.
         disclosed the company is currently    “There are problems emerging
         working with DP World to move into the   from the rise in e-commerce and an
         cargo and logistics sectors alongside   immediate demand in that too many
         passenger transport.               trucks can be delivering too little too
           “The pandemic exacerbated        often. We have to bundle this in some
         consumer behaviour where we want   way. We have to advance mobility
         things now to be delivered in hours, not   to build liveable cities, which will
         days or weeks, which has supercharged   mean looking at the urban design
         the e-commerce sector. There is a need   side to deliver cities with 10-minute
         to grow express freight and we are   access and use of urban air mobility
         looking at how we can translate this into   technology including drones,” he said.
         opportunity using technology like ours
         and we are working with DP World to   Asyad trials blockchain
         see how we can move now into cargo   Meanwhile Ghaith Al Darmaki, chief
         and logistics,” he explained.      of technology of the Asyad Group
            He added: “Eight to 10 years from   – the Omani integrated logistics
         now autonomous vehicles will drive   solutions provider – revealed
         efficiencies because they will connect   that his company is piloting
         trunk lines and integrate into the   blockchain technology “requiring
         overall satellite system to be able to   all our partner communities to
         handle routing.”                   work together in one network.”


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         January - February 2022                                                                         www.itln.in
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