💬 Vianova's Bloomberg Interview: Shaping the Future of Mobility

Condensed Interview Format

1. Can you introduce yourself and your role at Vianova?

Alex: My title is nominally Head of Mobility Insights, but I wear a couple of different hats at Vianova. I joined the company in 2021 when we were about 10 people, and we're up to around 30 now. My role is to be in this translation role between the more technical and engineering side and the customer or potential customer side. My background was actually as a city practitioner. I started on the elected official side, worked as Deputy Chief of the Mayor's Office, and got into the mobility space through the Smart City Challenge back in 2016. We created the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure in Pittsburgh, and I moved to Seattle for a bit before joining Vianova and moving to Paris in 2021.

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2. What value does Vianova provide to government clients?

Alex: Vianova focuses on the legibility and actionability of data. Many clients are data-rich but insight-poor. They have access to a lot of data but struggle to turn it into something understandable and actionable. Our role is to guide the transformation from data to insight, helping cities make informed decisions. Additionally, we have stronger connections in the private sector, giving us access to data that cities find interesting but may not be able to procure on their own. We act as translators between data-generating companies and public sector clients, making data legible and useful for city planning and policy-making.

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3. How has Vianova evolved from focusing on shared mobility to other areas?

Alex: Shared mobility was a lightning strike moment for us. It was disruptive, digitally native, and cities quickly identified a need for data standardization and privacy control. However, shared mobility is a small niche of total travel volume. Our clients now want to understand everything about mobility, not just shared mobility. They are interested in traffic safety, logistics, and sustainable transport. The challenge for us is to build the best applications using the best data, given the limitations in data availability, privacy, and city capacity.

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4. What are the main challenges in accessing data from the private sector?

Alex: There are three main challenges. First, there's the evangelization aspect—convincing private companies that sharing data with the government can lead to mutual benefits. Second, cities often struggle to articulate their use cases effectively. They either don't want new data because it changes their existing processes, or they ask for everything without knowing what to do with it. Third, there's the issue of capacity. Cities often lack the technical skills to handle large datasets, which is where companies like ours come in. We help cities understand what they need and how to use it effectively.

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5. Can you explain the concept of data sharing and monetization at Vianova?

Alex: Initially, most data produced isn't in a form useful to anyone. We focus on data product development, transforming raw data into actionable insights. In the long run, we hope this activity shifts upstream, with data producers taking on the responsibility of transformation. Our role would then be to connect data producers with those who need it, facilitating a marketplace for data exchange. This approach helps standardize data and makes it easier for cities to procure and use it effectively.

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6. What are some low-hanging fruits in data that could be made public for greater value?

Alex: Safety-related data from OEMs is a good example. This data is commercially available and moderately standardized. There's a compelling public interest case for making this data available to cities. It can supplement collision statistics with information on near misses and speeding behavior, providing a richer dataset for improving road safety. If this conversation continues to develop, it could serve as a template for other domains like sustainability and efficient use of public space.

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7. How do you see the future of data standardization and its impact on mobility management?

Alex: The future lies in cross-disciplinary dynamics of data. We started by serving shared mobility but now cover road safety and logistics. The real value comes when different planners—safety, logistics, mobility—can make decisions based on integrated data. Our product vision is to harmonize the experience of interacting with various data types, making it easier to conduct complex analyses. Standardized data allows us to compete on turning data into actionable insights, which is where the real value lies.

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About Vianova

Vianova is the data analytics solution to operate the mobility world. Our platform harnesses the power of connected vehicles and IoT data, to provide actionable insights to plan for safer, greener, and more efficient transportation infrastructures.

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From enabling regulation of shared mobility to transforming last-mile deliveries, and mapping road risk hotspots, Vianova serves 150+ cities, fleet operators, and enterprises across the globe to change the way people and goods move.

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Ready to learn more?  Visit our page to get in touch.