Reimagining mobility: Hitachi Rail convenes tech and transport leaders to predict how we will travel in 2050
Hitachi Rail today launched its Mobility Reimagined report at InnoTrans 2026, bringing together insights from some of the most influential global leaders across the technology, transport and academic sectors on how mobility will evolve towards 2050.
www.hitachirail.com
The report, will be formally unveiled at a keynote panel session later today featuring Giuseppe Marino, Group CEO of Hitachi Rail, alongside Dayan Rodrigues, Corporate Vice President for Manufacturing and Mobility, Microsoft; Irfan Ali, Global Head of Edge Solution Sales, NVIDIA; and Neil Barua, CEO of PTC, all of whose organisations contributed to the research.
Based on in-depth interviews with 36 leaders from across North America, Europe and Asia, the report concludes that mobility is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Rather than being viewed as a collection of different transport modes, mobility is set to be seen as a connected system. Future transport networks will increasingly be designed around seamless end-to-end journeys, enabled by artificial intelligence, digital twins, automation and connected infrastructure.
The research identifies five key findings:
Modes replaced by systems: Mobility is shifting from individual transport modes to integrated mobility systems
Rail to forge backbone of future mobility: as the only solution to providing the high-capacity, sustainable transport networks needed by growing cities.
AI's greatest impact will be operational: improving network performance through predictive maintenance, traffic management and energy optimisation
Digital twins and Physical AI are increasingly transformational: technologies will enable operators to move towards continuous optimisation
Technology is advancing faster than the systems that govern it: Future of mobility will depend as much on institutional transformation as digital innovation.
Giuseppe Marino, Group CEO, Hitachi Rail, said:
"As transport systems evolve rapidly, driven on by urbanisation and climate change, understanding how mobility must develop has never been more important. Through this report, Hitachi Rail brings together decades of railway expertise and leading digital capabilities to define a practical vision for mobility in 2050.
"The transport networks of tomorrow will be built on the intelligent integration of rail, digital technology and infrastructure. As a global leader in both mobility and digital innovation, Hitachi Rail is helping shape this transformation by pioneering technologies that optimise networks, improve reliability and deliver more seamless journeys. The greatest opportunities lie in connecting data, infrastructure and AI to create transport systems that are smarter, more resilient and more sustainable."
The report also highlights the growing role of collaboration between transport operators and technology leaders. The research outlined that the technologies emerging today, including the contributions of physical AI, edge computing and digital twins, were the innovations expected to transform how we travel in 2050, rather than yet unseen new technologies. These technologies were seen as critical to enabling future mobility systems that can continuously predict, optimise and improve operations in real time. The research also outlined that these technologies were
As part of the research, industry leaders described how technologies being deployed today could support increasingly autonomous transport systems by 2050, while maintaining the human oversight necessary for safety, trust and accountability. The report also underscores the need for investment in resilient infrastructure as cities confront climate change, urbanisation and increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
The report was commissioned by Hitachi Rail and independently researched through in-depth interviews by Savanta between June and July 2026.
The full report is available at: mobility-reimagined-report-2026.pdf
www.hitachirail.com
