Smart mobility in Africa: Where are we now?

Cities in emerging economies, especially in Africa, are grappling with transport problems, such as congestion, service fragmentation, inadequate infrastructure and long travel times and distances. These issues negatively impact the liveability of African cities. Despite the potential of smart mobility to address some issues, there is a notable gap in research exploring the aspects of smart mobility that are applicable and effective in the context of emerging economies. This paper explores smart mobility research trends in Africa. A bibliometric analysis technique was used to extract 608 documents from the Scopus and Web of Science core collections, which were analysed using Biblioshiny in R. The results reveal that many studies focused solely on technological solutions, are fragmented, and lack network- or city-wide mobility solutions. Previous research has not considered user perspectives or the likely socio-economic impact of smart mobility. The growth in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data analytics, coupled with the need for personalised and seamless travel, is driving smart mobility research in Africa. Most papers were authored by researchers with African affiliations but based at foreign institutions. The African countries represented are limited to Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa. There are also low levels of intra-African research collaboration. Further, only 14 documents specifically focused on transport in Africa. Future research should focus on integrating various transport options to achieve customised and sustainable transport solutions. The paper explores a multifaceted concept in the context of emerging economies and provides a research agenda.