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Biomimicry & Sustainable Mobility
Designing the mobility of tomorrow by drawing inspiration from the resilience and efficiency of living organisms
Designing the mobility of tomorrow by drawing inspiration from the resilience and efficiency of living organisms
Globally, the transport sector accounts for 25% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the combustion of fossil fuels ( IEA, 2023 ). These emissions primarily originate from road transport, which represents approximately 75% of CO2 emissions from the transport sector ( World Bank, 2023 ). Furthermore, vehicles emit fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is responsible for millions of premature deaths each year due to the respiratory and cardiovascular diseases it causes ( WHO, 2018 ).
These problems are exacerbated by the growth of the urban population, which is expected to reach 68% of the world's population by 2050 ( United Nations, 2018 ), and the increasing pressure on natural ecosystems. For example, urban congestion costs the United States approximately $87 billion annually in lost time and fuel consumption ( INRIX, 2023 ). In this context, it is imperative to develop cleaner, safer, and more efficient modes of transportation that are compatible with planetary boundaries.
Biomimicry offers a major technological opportunity for sustainable mobility:
The promise of biomimicry is to take advantage of the largest R&D laboratory: Nature. It offers us the most compelling evidence: 3.8 billion years of innovation at our fingertips, from which we can draw inspiration to address a wide range of technical challenges.
Adopting biomimicry in the development of mobility solutions can not only catalyze innovation but also strengthen environmental sustainability.
Reducing vehicle mass is a key strategy for decreasing energy consumption. Honeycomb structures are already widely used in the automotive sector for their excellent strength-to-weight ratio. However, other bio-inspired patterns, such as those inspired by Venus's basket, beetle elytra, or mother-of-pearl , exhibit remarkable mechanical properties. These natural structures combine lightness and strength, and their application in vehicle component design could significantly reduce mass while maintaining high structural performance.
By drawing inspiration from the streamlined shapes of fish and birds, vehicles can be designed to minimize air or water resistance, thereby reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions . Birds are able to optimize the shape of their wings in flight and fly in formation to maximize their aerodynamic efficiency. This has inspired the development of drones and aircraft with adaptive wings that adjust in real time. The adoption of formation flying in aviation could also significantly reduce fuel consumption.
The coordinated behavior of insect swarms and schools of fish offers innovative solutions for improving transportation networks. By moving in perfect synchronization and sharing real-time information to avoid collisions and optimize their routes, these natural groups inspire advanced traffic control and fleet management algorithms. For example, navigation systems for autonomous vehicles inspired by these collective behaviors can help avoid collisions and optimize traffic flow.
Whatever the field of application: flow optimization, aerodynamics, lightweight design, energy saving and management, etc. , our experts improve or rethink your technologies by drawing inspiration from the sophistication and richness of properties found in nature.
