Kasun Illankoon spoke to Bernard Roux, VP and Country Director at Thales UAE, who gave us an overview of the ground transportation industry and delved deeper into how smart transportation can help the UAE and the wider region
Tell us how Thales has been performing over the past 12 months and has the company achieved what it set out to do in 2019?
The past 12 months have been strong for Thales with global order and sales intake for the first quarter of 2019 at €2,273 million €3,361 million respectively. Operating profitability improved across all segments and reached 10.6%, a level never before achieved by the Group. Our strategy for this year and up to 2021 is to support profitable growth by continuing to roll out operational performance initiatives and to strengthen our customer-centric culture. We continue to significantly invest in tech innovation, coupled with our strength in digitalisation, we see our business model as robust and balanced.
Tell us what are Thales overall goals and objectives in terms of growth and expansion in the Middle East?
The Middle East is one of our strongest markets, and we have demonstrated our excellence in supporting the region with advanced logistics and transport systems, especially in landmark projects such as Dubai Metro. We had implemented a complete technology package for Dubai Metro to deliver a world-class passenger experience including solutions such as our SelTrac™ CBTC for reliable driverless operations, easy multimodal ticketing and passenger information.
Similarly, in Egypt, Thales supports the modernization programme of the Egyptian National Railway – to improve safety, capacity and reliability. Our signaling upgrade has made it possible to increase train speeds from 20 to 160 km/hour and reduced time intervals between trains from 10 to 5 minutes boosting the frequency of services. With the region investing in smart and urban mobility infrastructure, we see tremendous potential for growth in the region. Specific to the UAE, initiatives such as Etihad Rail will transform the nation’s public transport network and our aim is to contribute to such national initiatives and bring our advanced suite of technology to support the region.
According to the Global Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Market was valued US$ 22.5 Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 54.3 Bn by 2026, can you tell us factors behind this rise in value?
Passenger transport across the world is increasing in volume, making the networks more complex to manage. With more than 50% of the world’s population living in urban areas, it is imperative that the transport sector has to evolve to meet ever increasing needs. Further, we also see growth in cargo movement – within nations and beyond. The most significant driver of growth in the ITS market, no doubt, is the investment in digitalisation of public networks – to revamp aging infrastructure and to create seamless interconnection for people.
Can you give us an overview of the ground transportation industry and delve deeper into how smart transportation, which is essentially IoT in intelligent transportation, can help the UAE and the wider region?
The value that digitalisation brings is unbeatable: for example, the use of AI in public transport helps unlock the value of data to improve the quality and efficiency for the public transport sector, especially in railways. The advances in digital technologies such as AI, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, bring the concepts of seamless mobility and efficient interconnectivity to a reality. This presents many opportunities to the public transport and railway sectors. Similarly, leveraging digital solutions in signaling and interlocking systems will increase operational capacity, the frequency of operations and reduce delays.
What are the obstacles you believe the industry will face moving forward and what steps can be taken to overcome this?
The key challenge that the industry will face is the increasing pressure on public transport networks and the need for investments to drive infrastructure upgrades. That is why we reiterate the value that digitalisation brings to the entire ecosystem. It is imperative that aging public transport networks are revamped with modern systems put in place to meet increasing demand. For us, with our global experience and tech leadership, we are uniquely positioned to offer a smooth, safe and interconnected travel experience.
Do you believe cities like Dubai are ready to incorporate more smart transportation, for example like autonomous cars on its roads?
Of course, Dubai has been at the forefront in adopting smart transportation solutions and has already underlined its commitment to smart mobility solutions – not only to enhance the welfare of its citizens and visitors but also to cut down on emissions. Thales is strongly positioned to support Dubai’s smart city big ambition and we have proved that we are truly a local partner to our customers in the UAE.