Hyundai held its 5^th Mobility Innovators Forum (MIF) 2020 in a virtual format on October 29-30.

Under the theme of ‘From Vision to Reality’, MIF 2020 facilitated in-depth discussions between mobility experts and thought leaders from around the world on the topic of turning the vision of human-centred mobility into reality.

The Chairman & CEO of Sidewalk Lab, Dan Doctoroff kicked off the forum with his opening speech. Other partner speakers included co-founder and CEO of Ola Bhavish Aggarwal and CEO of Arrival Denis Sverdlov.

The event also featured a series of chats and a panel discussion delivered by Motional CEO Karl Iagnemma; Nuro CEO Jiajun Zhu; Head of World Economic Forum Michelle Avary; Policy Director of Mobility and Interagency Relations for the Mayor’s Office of Oakland, California, Warren Logan; Chief of Policy Development for Ellis & Associates Stephen Zoepf; Executive Director of San Francisco County Transportation Authority Tilly Chang; and others.

In his session, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, India’s largest mobility platform, shared his long-term optimism about the future of mobility in society. As COVID-19 creates both challenges and opportunities for mobility services, he asserted that segment players should seize the chance to better improve the hygiene and quality of service for consumers as well as accelerate digitization and electrification adoption.

In addition to keynotes, chat sessions provided multi-dimensional views:

• Karl Iagnemma and Jiajun Zhu, two CEOs of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology startups, shared their thoughts about the potential business impact of COVID-19 as well as the prospect of making AV profitable in businesses moving people and delivery of goods.

• Michelle Avary and Warren Logan talked about Oakland’s Slow Streets Program and its efforts to bring equitable and sustainable mobility to the city through data-driven and community-engagement methods.

• Stephen Zoepf and Tilly Chang discussed how the city of San Francisco set up their strategy for new equitable and inclusive mobility as well as collaboration with private partners.

Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Urban Air Mobility Division, delivered his keynote on the challenges and opportunities in future air mobility. The Group’s President and Chief Innovation Officer Youngcho Chi delivered closing remarks for MIF 2020.