In Germany, Karl-Thomas Neumann sees a country basing its next-generation mobility culture around traditional cars. In Israel, he sees one formulating future plans around a variety of transportation modes.
The longtime automotive executive lamented Germany’s lack of vision and praised Israel’s efforts during remarks at the virtual EcoMotion mobility tech conference.
“In Germany, we believe mobility is cars, and we think we have to protect the auto industry and the notion that you own your own car”, he said. “There’s no city in Germany with a strong vision of getting rid of cars and creating the next level of mobility and transportation”.
Neumann—former CEO at Continental, Opel, and Volkswagen China—has been paying close attention to the startup ecosystem and mobility technology emerging from Tel Aviv. He believes Israel has emerged as a global hot spot for transport technology, thanks to the country’s combination of an educated work force, entrepreneurial culture, and access to funding.
Tel Aviv is “creating a test bed and a place where you can demonstrate these technologies, and becoming a model for other cities in the world,” he said. “That enables startups to do things here they cannot do in other places. That’s really important for setting a good base for automotive and mobility startups”.