Guest Editorial: Expanding the Scope of Mobility

The story of mobility is as old as humanity itself. For more than a century, “mobility” — the concept of moving people, goods, and services from one point to another — has most often been associated with the automotive, aerospace, and commercial vehicle sectors. These industries, along with their diverse supply chains, amount to more than a $5-trillion market worldwide. The three sectors are continuously innovating with notable progress in autonomous vehicles development serving passenger mobility and the entire gamut of commercial applications (multi-modal freight covering highway/middle-mile/last-mile, agricultural, marine, amphibious, etc.). In addition, drones, eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing transports), and autonomous delivery vehicles as part of an evolving system of urban air mobility (UAM) and urban ground mobility (UGM) are all emerging manifestations of mobility.