Please stand for the national anthem.
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Heat. Heat.
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First footsteps across shifting sands. Wheels turning with the rhythm of nature. Movement was survival, discovery, connection.
Today the world moves as one. Cities breathe. Networks hum. Every journey connects us.
A new era is here. Technology, people, and planet come together. Possibility reaches beyond what we know.
Across landscapes, motion shapes life.
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Welcome to Commotion Globe 2025. Welcome to RIA. The future of mobility starts here.
Please welcome to the stage John Rossant, founder and CEO of Commotion Global.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning or good afternoon rather your excellencies, dear guests. Welcome. Welcome to Commotion Global 2025. It's a true honor, a real honor to open this gathering at a time that is a true technological inflection point in urban mobility and in the life of cities. Not only here in this great capital of Saudi Arabia, but in other cities in the Kingdom, in the Middle East, and all around the world. We're gathering here for the next three days for the first time that Commotion convenes in the Middle East. This inaugural edition brings together more than 2,000 leaders, innovators, public sector visionaries, and investors from 91 countries. And I want to extend a special welcome to the nearly 100 mayors and city leaders who have traveled here from all five continents to take part in these deliberations from Johannesburg and Freetown and Casablanca in Africa from Helsinki Rome Santiago de Chile Austin Texas Katawichi Poland from Islamabad and beyond.
What makes this gathering exceptional, I believe, is both its urgency and its ambition. We're not merely exchanging ideas. We are laying the groundworks for a brave new urban era in which people and goods move efficiently, sustainably and seamlessly. The technologies and the policies that we will be discussing from autonomous vehicles to air mobility regulation from hydrogen propulsion and next generation batteries to sentient cities and smart infrastructure. These have the potential to transform how millions of people move, live, and breathe in cities. Imagine cities where mobility and transportation are responsive to real human needs. Where commute times shrink. Where pollution disappears. Where energy consumption really declines and horrific traffic fatalities become largely a thing of the past. Imagine transportation ecosystems that embrace artificial intelligence, clean energy and connectivity to serve inclusion, sustainability, economic growth. This is not a distant dream. It is the mission we embark on today with the extraordinary lineup of speakers over the next three days. You are an unparalleled concentration of talent, insight and willpower. Together we hope to mobilize this energy into a truly impactful global coalition.
But ambition alone is not enough. Commotion Global will be transformative only if it becomes collaborative across sectors, across continents, across disciplines through initiatives that we are launching here in Riyad like Mayors in Motion, uniting city leaders in an unprecedented global effort to accelerate urban innovation. We hope to build a living network, a community committed not just to ideas but to implementation. And nowhere is that spirit of innovation more evident, more present than here in Riad, which is why we're here and so we're so delighted to be here. By convening in this capital, we recognize, if recognition were needed, the critically important role this part of the world is now playing as a hub of mobility innovation. You only need to step outside this venue to see for example the new Riad Metro, the world's longest fully autonomous metro system across its six lines and 176 kilometers. It's a landmark project reshaping how millions will move daily are moving daily. Air-conditioned bus stops and a fast expanding BRT system are improving public transit comfort and accessibility. And many of you seen the autonomous vehicles that are being tested even as we speak on Riad streets. And here I want to truly salute his excellency Dr. May the vice minister of transportation and logistics services and the head of the transport general authority for the incredible work that he's been doing. He will be speaking in just a short while. And thanks to Dr. Rome and his team and other teams, few nations give such strategic importance to mobility and transportation as Saudi Arabia.
Long before it was fashionable, Saudi Arabia was making bold investments in advanced mobility, backing early stage companies with names like Uber, not just for financial return, but to access core technologies that could better knit together this vast almost continental nation whose population is now over 85% urban. Rapid growth places pressure on infrastructure as we can see congestion, pollution, road safety, land use. But that pressure is exactly what creates so many opportunities. It's a unique window that we have now to shape new systems with clean mobility, intuitive planning, and technology-driven solutions rather than retrofitting them later as is happening in other cities in the world. And that makes Riyad and the Middle East not just markets for innovation but truly unique laboratories for the next generation of urban mobility. And there's another strategic dimension to convening here that I think is exceptionally important. This is one of the very few geographies in the world, one of the very few places in the world where our friends from China, arguably the most consequential mobility players today, can sit at the same table as their counterparts from Europe and North America. That matters. We must encourage east and west to work together for a better urban future rather than devolve into competing and antagonistic ecosystems. I look forward to the discussions on this subject over the next couple of days. By meeting here in Riad, we are declaring that this new mobility era will be shaped not by a single region but by a global coalition. I'm hoping this summit can be more than just a conference. Let it be a turning point, a commitment, a launchpad for cleaner air, freer movement, smarter infrastructure, and human-centered urban life.
None of this would have been possible without the support and engagement of our many partners, starting with the amazing team at the Saudi Conventions and Exhibitions General Authority, Sega, our host this week, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services, the Transport General Authority, the Royal Commission for Riyad City, Riyad Public Transport, the Municipality of Riyad Region, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing and the King Abdullah Financial District which is where we are today. Thank you very much. Finally, I wish to thank my dear friend and mentor, his excellency Fahad Rashid, chairman of the Saudi conventions and exhibitions general authority. His excellency as many of you know has been a true urban visionary is a true urban visionary. He's the Saudi representative to the urban 20 track of the G20 and has been deeply deeply involved in shaping urban development for more than 20 years. Thank you dear Fahad. Thank you for being here. Let's get to work and please join me in giving a very warm round of applause to his excellency Fahad Rashid. Thank you.
