please. we are here is actually on fire. our world such a beautiful place and yet this is what we're faced with on a daily basis not during the pandemic but maybe that's what it takes a pandemic to make us rethink about how we get about our cities could soon mean taking off to work or literally zipping down the road to grab a bite or without food make its way to us in

a completely new and official way. what about really thinking green well more of a switch to bicycles i did a long time ago it saves me time money a lot of stress and keeps me fit rethinking mobility pedal power gives you a sense of freedom and independence and in times like these it allows you to stay out in the fresh air rather than cramming on to public transport and to keep your distance from everyone else where the cars give cyclists the distance they need is another story some are so overly polite that they drive all the way around you keeping up to 3 metres distance others zip by leaving just a whisker between you and death's door the rule in germany is at least one and a half mages but what would our cities look like if we got rid of the costs. demonstrations in berlin take to their bikes they want more car free cycling rates in the city center more pedestrian zones and generally fewer cars in the capital

it's been for that out of work i think there's enough infrastructure for motorised transport so. what we need is to make more provision for cyclists we need to fight for a greener berlin why not just that i'm. meanwhile cars can't get through forced to make way for the cyclists. what do these motorists think about cyclists as it needs to be space for both not just the cyclists all the cars everyone's important one of them is now is on. how about a quadricycle all velo male cycling in all its forms has become his image i'm in capital. north of christmas right average speed in the city is 25 kilometers an hour otherwise 30. today the protesters are being allowed on to the city freeway

the police once again holding back the cars but didn't state government has adopted new transport policies in recent years adding cycle lanes and converting some streets into cycling and pedestrians over but some want to a more radical approach as an obvious and from fox and we want a referendum on drastically reducing traffic in berlin normally the streets are stuffed full of cars and we think that's unfair especially in inner cities where so many people no longer use a car yet have to sacrifice so much space to them cars just aren't in keeping with the times anymore. in many parts of the world in the cities are being rapidly transformed we spoke to one architect who is well aware of the challenges. of pandemic is serving to speed up a process that has long been under way. just take

a walk through our protest rooms. and you'll see the problems. people are doing more shopping online department stores especially have suffered in recent years and the pandemic has made things worse. a lot of shop space and car parks now stand empty. this is former department store in the center of a west german city was converted into an apartment building with shops. no one here needs a car now. inside took. it's important to cater to both living and working in the city. that's the only way to reduce the amount of commuter traffic. here. this building in berlin central mitta district was also designed for people without a car there are shops artist studios apartments and offices to all designed for a living and working under one roof passers by can look inside this like the flower

beds is an intentional feature they are that's when you get lets you know what's going on out there who's passing by and i get to enjoy the plants that are growing here to my friends. there's no doubt that in a cities with fewer vehicles a more pleasant denmark's capital copenhagen has banned all cars from the city center. paris is planning to plant more trees on the shelves eliseo and around the arc de triomphe in an effort to cut traffic significantly. in new york parts of broadway near times square already caffrey dotted with street cafes designed by danish urban planners. car makers have also understood that times are changing v.w. has developed. driving shuttles that it hopes will become the taxis of the future

and help to come in a city traffic. branches moving from being a pure auto maker to becoming a mobility provider so whether you buy a car from us lease or rented or just use it and whether you drive yourself or not our business model works either way. back to the bike. when the demonstrators are making a bigger line for the city's been freeway. if they get that way the german capital will one day no longer need a freeway because at least. i often cycle through berlin thinking how different the city of look if there weren't any cars or streets. landscapes totally governed by cars so much so that you take it for granted but imagine if we just had parkland gardens and trees it'd be pretty amazing and instead we've got

endless kilometers of asphalt this sort of thing as well from time to time a memorial for a cyclist hit by a car or truck they've already been to such incidents this year in the german capital because the driver turned without looking over their shoulder. marcel schmidt has been driving a truck for 30 years the fun of hitting a cyclist while turning a corner has always been his worst nightmare and he knows it could happen any time . the market said the monk how even if it wasn't my fault and the cyclist had gone through a red light and didn't die but was seriously injured that i don't know how i deal with it. or if i ever get in a truck again. unfortunately it's never happened to him and in the past it was an even bigger problem than now. we have a lot of them are just out of normal mirrors on each side and between miss

a panel or a mirror you have such a big blind spots if you wanted a roundabout i suspect you want to go like this and want this so you can see. and then you get a situation where you think there's no one coming and then that looks not much you know. statistics show that around $28.00 cyclists die every year in germany because they're overlooked by truck drivers turning but how can it still be happening so often trucks do have their mirrors after all. the problem is they're not enough. let's take a look at what drivers can actually see. with a side view mirror the driver can see this area and this area. but not this one any cyclist in this blind spot won't be seen. and that's why

a blind spot assist mechanism was developed to help at junctions. sensors scan the area that the driver can see if there's something there it sounds in alarm. the job you guys did is the blind spot assist is great sometimes it peaks a lot even when there's no one there because it senses some kind of object and thinks it's a cyclist but that's ok. whenever it p.c. lean over and look and if there's really a danger you do an emergency stop among them if you meet them in the foot of. my social networks for a transport and logistics company called eminence. it's been using blind spot assistance technology for many years and. so far 85 percent of its fleet has been equipped with the sensors the company believes safety systems like this are

important because every accident can have dramatic consequences. remonde we didn't introduce it because it's compulsory otherwise we would have waited for the law to change your mind we acted in our own interest on behalf of our employees for their safety safety of our vehicles and other road users. from july next year only trucks in the european union will have to be equipped with blind spot assistance systems. trucks that regularly supply goods to europe must also be fitted with the latest safety systems. a few years ago this college company in ukraine bought 10 trucks with modern driver system systems not an easy decision as the costs involved are considerable. too for your formula top sister

get the blind spot assist costs around 1500 euros but truck i'm sure but it all adds up to more than the starting price for a truck is 100000 euros. or stone you have to add enough to force. 2000 euros more for all the optional extras so everyone has to calculate whether they can really afford it. was more used. here in ukraine the drivers are also very much in favor of the safety systems. working every truck should have a blindspot sensor system installed and even cars need to have a lane departure warning and emergency braking systems to receive leads things had been made stand there long ago it would have saved many lives more move most was to be used. just kidding that's going to put your warning. marceau

schmidt is grateful for every safety feature and co provides but at the same time he knows in the end it's the driver who's responsible. gun can't rely on the technology completely it's great and definitely a help but you shouldn't rely on it. and what happens when you take the driver out of the equation when it's up to algorithms to decide on what show or who's worth slamming on the brakes full or if it comes down to swerving to miss a child but taking someone else's life instead. out official intelligence and self driving cars a still in development with lots of an answer to questions and it's going to take a lot longer than the auto experts originally expected electric cars meanwhile have finally started to catch on they're a big subsidies for german motorists and a heap more choice the race between v.w.

and tesla for example is heating up it wasn't that long ago that declared it was going green hue the last quarter of last year it overtook tesla in a vehicle sales this was once modern and this will soon be old. innovation drives the auto industry as to sales figures and market power pioneers are challenging the big names but who's in the driver's seat. he was long dismissed as crazy and you must began making electric cars in the early 2000 it's his chest the brand is now a major player selling 500000 vehicles a year its market value higher than all the german car makers put together but the winds of change are coming the german automaker is switching to all electric. bill . through early early late fast slow when it comes to technical innovation

that's always an impossible question i'd say folks wagon was right on time. electric cars are growing in popularity many governments now offer buyers financial incentives bokes wagon is converting plants at a cost of 35000000000 euros over the next 3 years. it's the what else is best for you w. has many more models than tesla if they all can that 2 electric eye for the next few years will soon overtake tesla battery production is another focus the german car maker eventually once batteries made in europe using green electricity. we want to ensure that we're well supplied with high quality battery cells and ultimately bring our costs into line through economies of scale. so the car of the future will be electric what else the trend is towards driving cars that leave the driver free to focus on more important things

a living room or office on wheels. so the car becomes not just a mode of transport but an extension of the home. and it's up to us to design the vehicle accordingly cars need to be ready so the customer can work play all read at leisure. connectivity is clearly going to be key but perhaps not just inside the car elon and says automakers need to see the bigger picture. here the manager yet or not specially now in the pandemic i would like to have seen automakers investing in the development of new mobility concepts concepts . this could be apps that allow customers to decide how to get from a to b. perhaps a single platform that offers various forms of transport here to automakers risk falling behind.