In Germany, Karl-Thomas Neumann sees a country rooting 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 the former and praised the latter Tuesday during remarks at the virtual EcoMotion mobility tech conference.
EcoMotion is a joint venture of the Israeli Innovation Institute, the Smart Transportation Administration and the Ministry of Economy.
“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 GmbH 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 hotspot for…
