The automobile system and transport models: developments for future mobility planning

This article is based on a multidisciplinary study (law, geography, computer science) developed in the Mobility component of the European XTERM (compleX systems, TERritorial intelligence, Mobility) research programme. At the interface between these three approaches, we explore the role and future of the automobile in France at a time when the objective is a transition to sustainable (collective, individual, shared) mobility. An analysis of past and current modelling practices shows that they all seem to be shaped by and for the automobile. Recent legislative developments are characterised by the integration of the car into the overall organisation of transport, with the user being replaced by homo mobilis, an agent perceived as enjoying wide modal choice. Through the question of the embodiment of transport systems, we study a little-explored aspect of day-to-day trade-offs that relating to regulations. We conclude the article by presenting proposals, tested during the project, for a new theoretical and methodological approach to modelling.