First Dinesh Mohan Memorial Annual Lecture by V Sumantran
About the author:
Dr. V. Sumantran is Chairman of Celeris Technologies and an advisor to several Fortune-100 organizations in autos, technology, industrial equipment, and aerospace. He is the author of the book Faster, Smarter, Greener – the future of the Car and Urban Mobility published by MIT Press (2017). He is an Adjunct Professor at MIT-MISI, serves on the Board of Governors for the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar and on the Advisory Board of the Fraunhofer Institutes (Germany). He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Previously he was Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive, UK, the auto and manufacturing sector holding company of the Hinduja Group, as well as Vice Chairman of Ashok Leyland. Prior to this he was Member of the Board at Tata Motors and the Chief Executive Officer of TATA Motors’ Car business in its formative years. Prior to joining TATAs, Dr. Sumantran had a 16-year career with General Motors in Detroit and subsequently served on deputation in Europe as Director-R&D at the GM-FIAT alliance in Europe. Dr. Sumantran has served on the Science Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India and the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet of the Indian Government. Dr. Sumantran is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and subsequently earned his MS (Princeton University) and Ph.D. (Virginia Tech) degrees in Aerospace Engineering as well a Master’s degree in Management of Technology..
Introduction:
Albert Einstein once observed that “nothing changes until something moves”. Taking the liberty of extending his observation beyond physics to society and economics, mobility of people and freight has remained an important foundation of development from the time the earliest civilisations. From river valleys to strategic seaports, populations have congregated wherever ease of mobility facilitated trade and social contact. The last century has seen urbanisation accelerate unabated and it is fair to say we live in a mostly urban world. Increasing population density in many cities and mega-cities has in turn required communities to adapt their mobility architecture so that it remains relevant and efficient to serve the needs of that population. Over the past few decades, growing awareness of climate change and impact of our current mobility architecture on carbon emissions has resulted in many large urban initiatives to transform urban mobility to be smarter, greener and safer. In recent years, we have also seen the unexpected hardships posed to society and global economy due to mobility restrictions enforced by the COVID pandemic. A post-Covid global recovery is already witnessing significant increases in demand for personal mobility across the globe. How well we re-direct the vector of urban mobility to take into account our evolving priorities will significantly influence how we may live, work and socialise in a safe and sustainable manner.
