Mercedes-Benz Turns Futurist, Predicts How Three Major Cities Will Look Like in the 2040s

So bright, in fact, that people started imagining it in the most creative of ways. Fueled by the promises of the atom's endless power, they started dreaming of new ways of transportation, new pastimes, and new and improved lives.

Looking back one can't help from noticing just how naïve those predictions turned out to be. So much so, in fact, that the real world only got a very limited number of the technologies dreamed up back then. We never got solar-powered cars, walking machines, flying cars, jetpacks, weather control, or space hospitals.

In the time that has passed since the 1950s, humanity hasn't stopped trying to predict the future, but it got a lot less bold at it. First up, our predictions no longer target life half a century in the future. Secondly, they are almost always made based on fact, rather than dreams.

You could say the predictions German carmaker Mercedes-Benz made this week about how life will look like in three of the world's major cities in the 2040 follow the same rules. They are toned down, informed, and fully feasible, so I won't be surprised to see at least part of those predictions become a reality.

The carmaker imagined the future of London, Los Angeles and Shenzhen as it also revealed some of the advanced technologies it is working on to make said future a reality. We'll leave those aside for the time being, and focus on how the three cities are shaped two decades from now in Mercedes' imagination, impacted as they are by digitalization and climate change.

London

London is the capital city of the United Kingdom, and the nation's largest city, with some 9.7 million people living in the so-called Metro Area. Quite crowded, the place is, but through clever implementation of access taxes and an impressive network of public transportation solutions, authorities keep things within bearable limits.

Mercedes-Benz sees the city evolving the most in three major areas in the 2040s, namely parking, the use of bicycles, and public transport. All these will also shape the city's architecture, which will remain the same blend between history and modernity, but will rely more on nature, manifested through parks, but also green roofs and facades.

The city is seen as a place where automobile traffic is reduced and to some extent replaced by bicycles, which travel on dedicated motorways as a last-mile solution, but also by public transport. Evolved and carefully placed parking locations will be used as some sort of hubs, allowing people to leave their cars and go for the alternative means of transportation.

Mercedes believes there will be robotaxis in London in 2040, accompanied by electric vans and cargo bikes for goods deliveries. In fact, pretty much all of the cars still traveling on London's roads are expected to be electric by then.

Los Angeles

The City of Angels, California's largest human settlement, is too at the forefront of the race to adopt new technologies, kind of like the entire state is. With that in mind, Mercedes did not hold back, and imagined changes that may seem a bit of a stretch when looked at superficially. They're probably not.

The Germans say the American city will likely have dedicated lanes for autonomous cars and bicycles, but unlike London, where the use of personal cars will be somewhat restricted, Americans will continue to be very attached to their vehicles.

To solve the growing problem of cars stuck in traffic, Mercedes says LA will likely adopt a massive digitalization of its infrastructure, with smart solutions to govern both travel and parking.

Unlike London, where EV adoption is expected to be massive, only about half of the Los Angeles inhabitants are expected to do the same. Strangely enough, Merc says many of these cars will be equipped with photovoltaics.

Autonomous cars should travel here on their own, dedicated lanes, and there will likely be a lot more bicycle paths in place. Somehow, the city’s higher-ups will also find ways to integrate a lot of green spaces in the design of the city in a bid to fight climate change.

Some of the buildings in the city are expected to get green facades, expect public drinking fountains installed in more areas, and imagine a water collection systems to avoid troubles the likes of which LA has witnessed before.

Shenzhen

The third most populous Chinese city may be a bit of mystery for westerners, but it is a true global technological hub, the  Silicon Valley, if you will, of the Asian country. As such, it is already highly advanced, and it's likely to grow increasingly so pretty fast.

Just like the other two cities, Shenzhen too will see a rise in autonomous vehicles, which will likely drive in their own lanes, there will be electric vehicles, and alternative means of transportation. Unlike the other two, however, the city will also be home to delivery drones, delivery robots, and flying taxis.

The operation of all these different vehicles (all of them will have one thing in common, and that is they all will be powered by electricity) will be governed by an artificial intelligence-powered traffic management system, which will also be able to arrange traffic flow vertically on different levels.

Cyclists will have their own dedicated lanes as well, there will be pedestrian paths, and all this will mix with a high-speed train network. Parks and green spaces are envisioned all around,

So, there you have it, Mercedes-Benz's vision of the future of these three specific cities. For the sake of an experiment, I'll hold on to this article and revisit it when we reach 2024, just too see how far off the Germans were with this.