Biomimicry and sustainable mobility: moving sustainably thanks to the living

Crédits image : Siemens Mobility

In France, transport constituted the leading industrial sector emitting greenhouse gases in 2021. The number of vehicles in circulation continues to increase, and 80% of the distance travelled by French people is by car. The question of the development of sustainable mobility is therefore crucial for the future of us all.

DIAGNOSTIC

The environmental, demographic and economic crises are pushing mobility to reinvent itself. Means of transport that is less polluting, quieter, more spacious, lighter, more autonomous, less energy consuming can be put in place according to different modes of use: individually or collectively, for short or long journeys. This must also be accompanied by resilient infrastructures to allow the smooth flow of transport in any situation, and avoid the inconveniences linked to the concentration of pollution and noise.

To meet these challenges, the development of new sober and efficient technologies is a promising avenue, as is better transport management at the urban and interurban scale.

Biomimicry is a research and development approach that consists of drawing inspiration from the ingenuity of living organisms to meet the needs of industries. It is very relevant for the development of sustainable mobility!

Biomimicry and sustainable mobility: Bioxegy explains why biomimicry is very relevant to meet the challenges of soft mobility.

Life is the fruit of 3.8 billion years of R&D, thanks to evolution. Living beings are highly adapted to their current environment because their properties, mechanisms and functions have survived where others have disappeared.

Living organisms have colonised a wide variety of environments, and face very diverse challenges: mass reduction, heat conservation, communication, reduction of vibrations, friction, energy storage, mechanical resistance, detection, flow management, etc. We can therefore draw inspiration from them to meet many challenges, including the development of robust, safe and efficient means of transport.

It is possible to draw inspiration from the living on several scales: living organisms, but also behaviors, and entire ecosystems. The possibilities are almost endless!

Thus, many social species show collective intelligence to move (shoals, swarms, etc.) and build (colonies) while saving available resources. Enough to improve fluidity, efficiency and resilience in the face of the daily hazards encountered by transport networks.

Below, a set of technical fields particularly relevant for sustainable mobility, to which biomimicry knows how to respond perfectly:

Advanced mechanical design (lightweight design, structures and shapes, materials, acoustics, tribology, aerodynamics), energy management (storage, lighting, motorisation and electrification) and information management (flow management, detection and autonomy, processing data): there are numerous technical challenges in this race for sustainable mobility.

What new R&D perspectives are there thanks to biomimicry?