Target Global on 5 Mobility Trends to Watch in 2025

by Josh Biggs in Tips on 31st January 2025

News that General Motors would exit its Cruise robotaxi venture after taking a $10 billion loss came as a most unwelcome surprise to auto industry observers late last year. Coming not long after Tesla’s own underwhelming robotaxi debut, it called into question whether the autonomous driving hype machine had once again got ahead of itself.

Some experts took a more measured perspective. “Our view has always been that those looking for an ‘iPhone moment’ in the autonomous driving space are primed for disappointment,” says Shmuel Chafets, cofounder of Target Global, a European venture capital firm with numerous portfolio companies in next-generation mobility.

Nevertheless, Chafets and others believe that autonomous mobility is the future. Further, they believe that future will come sooner than many expect. They see big things for it in 2025, along with a number of other important mobility-related developments.

1. Autonomous Vehicles Get Real (And Branch Out)

Nearly 40% of vehicles sold in 2025 are expected to have Level 2 autonomy features, with a smaller but still significant share having Level 3 autonomy features, says automotive expert Sarwant Singh. German OEMs, he notes, already have a “full roadmap” to Level 3 autonomy.

Level 3 autonomy is not true “driverless” capability, but it’s a big leap. Additionally, we’ll see autonomous features moving downmarket, into mass-market cars not named “Tesla.” In a few years, we could look back on 2025 as a subtle but important inflection point.

2. Wider Adoption of Bidirectional EV Capabilities

Bidirectional charging capabilities allow electric vehicles to power appliances, stationary batteries, whole homes, and even local power grids. The technology sounds far-fetched, but it’s already available in select North American, European and Asian models. And many experts believe it could achieve mass adoption within a decade.

“By 2035, every German EV will be enabled to use bidirectional charging technology,” says Alexander Gaytandjiev of the E.ON Group.

That’s a bold claim. However, momentum is building behind the scenes. As with autonomous vehicles, 2025 could prove to be an inflection point.

3. More Sophisticated Onboard Software (With OTA Update Capabilities)

Tesla drivers love to boast about their cars’ “over the air” (OTA) software update capabilities. In truth, this feature is relatively common in newer vehicles, and it’s quickly becoming more so.

It’s becoming more sophisticated, too. Soon, visiting the dealership or repair shop could be a rare event, reserved only for the trickiest problems.

4. A Shakeout for Urban Mobility Providers

Like autonomous driving, “sidewalk” mobility (namely, the scooter business) has had a difficult few years. The highest-flying companies were among the hardest hit — like Bird, whose “wildly ambitious goal was ‘to make cities more livable by reducing car usage, lowering carbon emissions, and improving the safety of all road users,’” says New York magazine’s Kevin Dugan.

We may see another high-profile bankruptcy like Bird’s in the near future, possibly as soon as this year. But that won’t mean small-scale urban mobility is dead; just that the business model could use some tweaks.

5. Expansion of Shared Mobility Apps Into “Traditional” Public Transit Domains

Mobility innovators like Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick make no secret of their hostility to traditional public transportation. They see intracity bus and train operators as, essentially, dinosaurs: slow to innovate and even slower to appreciate their customers’ changing mobility preferences.

Ride-hailing apps have definitely eaten into public transit’s market share without dealing it a death blow. Now, public transit is striking back by adopting ride-hailing-esque solutions of its own. In spite of the limited profit potential for private-sector operators, this is a positive development for anyone who cares about the future of cities.

Get Moving in 2025

Will 2025 prove to be the year of the mobility venture? 

If you remember the dark days of the late 2010s, when the promise of true autonomous driving seemed farther away than ever, you might be inclined to disagree.

Yet past performance does not predict future results, as the saying goes. While dramatic shifts in mobility technology happen slower than we’d like — witness the generation-long shift from horse-and-buggy to internal-combustion cars — they do happen sooner or later. And eventually, bets against them fail.

Categories: Tips

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