When dealers, lenders, mobility platforms and technology firms gathered in Singapore for AIMCONNECT 2026, one point kept coming up.

The way people buy, fund and use cars is changing faster than the businesses that serve them.

Hosted by X Star Technology and Aimotion under the theme “Where Mobility Meets the Future,” the forum gave industry leaders a shared space to look at those changes and at the role AI should play in responding to them.

For decades, anyone who could afford a car bought one and drove it everywhere. That assumption no longer holds.

Matthew Duncan, Director and CEO of JWT Bespoke, said buying a car remains an emotional decision for most people.

What has shifted is that ownership now must earn its place. In his words, it has become “a choice that has to be won each time.”

Federico Chester, Head of Latin America Business Development at Uber, sees the private car as one option among several.

Families, long-distance drivers, people carrying goods and those living with limited transport links will keep relying on their own vehicle.

Many others now switch between driving, public transport, walking, cycling, and on-demand rides depending on the trip.

“Mobility is increasingly about having the flexibility to choose the right option for each trip,”

On-demand services add value by sitting alongside the private car and covering the occasions when driving is less convenient.

Duncan pointed out that a buyer who sees an exact fare before every ride all week will find a rough drive-away estimate at the dealership hard to accept.

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