Car technology has grown in importance at CES in the nearly
10 years since Ford became the first automotive company to exhibit here. Much
of the talk in the lead up to the show was about the pace of change towards
self-driving or autonomous vehicles. Needless to say that this was an important
topic for most of the manufacturers I visited, but it was far from the central
focus.
Here’s my summary of what I saw and chatted about with Ford,
Mercedes Benz, Audi, Toyota, Fiat, Hyundai, Kia and VW. Let’s start with the
elephant in the exhibit hall:
Autonomous vehicles
The word on the street (see what I did there?) in the run up
to the show was that there would be big announcements about self-driving
technology. This didn’t really materialise, although Ford did suggest that they
were hoping to get a ‘Level 4’ self-driving car on the roads for public consumption
around 2020. ‘Level 4’, for those of you who are not doyennes of World of
Jargon, means that the driver should not be ready to intervene and drive the
car within certain geo-fenced areas. These are initially likely to be motorways,
but could also include parking lots and other relatively controlled
environments.
Even L4 is a frighteningly complex ask, requiring (amongst
other things) a variety of sensors fused into one data environment, vast
amounts of computing power and highly sophisticated algorithms. Amongst the
most interesting demos was Toyota’s deep learning Priuses, which learned to
drive over a period of a few minutes by sharing their experiences in a single
network. Nvidia also demonstrated a real world example using proprietary
hardware and software based on what they described as the cutting edge of academic
research.
Nvidia is worth a wider mention as it demonstrated how high
powered GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) and physics chips, both of which are
intended for gaming, can be used for real time identification of objects and
decision making. Their role in this sector hadn’t really occurred to me, so it
was exciting to see it in action.
The most impressive demo though was on the Kia stand. A very
unassuming-looking Kia Soul was actually a self-driver that could drive in
traffic, follow other vehicles and valet park itself. I suspect that’s strictly
Level 3, but this was a normal-looking hatchback car for normal people to do
their normal things. Impressive.
Mobility solutions
Having not really ‘got’ what Ford were talking about at the
Mobile World Congress, I think I am beginning to understand the industry’s
attempts to add a thread of transport as a service to their business models.
Ford does seem to be most advanced, showcasing a significantly improved version
of their e-bike concept, with an app that enables users to decide when to park
their car and how much to peddle to avoid being sweaty when they arrive at
their destination.
My major issue with this type of OEM-driven solution is that
they seem very ‘Sony’ in conception. You need a Ford bike with a Ford car and a
Ford account. I wonder whether such things would put off consumers, however I
haven’t done the research so I can’t tell you that!
Beyond the bike there were also a number of car sharing and
navigation concepts, including Ford (again) proposing that users of Ford F250
pickup trucks might make them available for rent to drivers of Focus’ so that
they can go to Home Depot. Interesting, but we shall see.
Toyota also showed off the FV2 mobility pod and a three
seat, deconstructed city car, which I’d buy today if they’d let me. Toyota also
appeared to be demonstrating a less-sophisticated version of Waze. Sadly I couldn’t
persuade them to tell me about it or sell me the car!
Alternative power sources
Car drive trains are a bit old hat at the moment, however we
shouldn’t forget that even 5 years ago most non-fossil fuel sources were
science fiction. Electric is now practical and gaining some ground, thanks to
the efforts of BMW, Nissan, Toyota and Tesla. VW had a whole stand dedicated to
it, claiming 230 mile range for their ‘Buddy’ demo vehicle. I assume that in
real world tests it actually does 23 miles… Toyota pushed hydrogen with a 2030
demo vehicle, whereas Mercedes focused on aerodynamics in their stunning
Concept IAA.
There was lots of cool stuff on show in general with regard
to future power, but it was very concept car focussed and therefore awesome but
of little practical interest right now.
Car as a lifestyle accessory
I suppose this isn’t much news in that many cars are
lifestyle accessories already… although what my 1962 Porsche 356 says about my
lifestyle is anyone’s guess.
VW and Toyota both seem to share the view that cars should
be socially connected and social connectors using wifi hubs and integration
with connected homes to enable people to be better loved by their friends and
family. VW, as mentioned above, even named their car ‘Buddy’. Yes.
Furthermore, both companies see their battery or fuel cell
vehicles as serving a need for domestic power during outages. The Buddy has a
solar panel on the roof to enable it to give power back to the grid and also
claims to be able to charge other vehicles.
The main trouble I can see with this kind of facility in
vehicles is the need to have perfect American suburban homes to make them
practical. In the much denser, older parts of the world houses aren’t so much
built around cars, making even charging them a challenge, let alone enabling
them to give back. Even so, the US is the world’s largest car market, so I
guess it makes sense to cater to its particular needs.
User experience
Something that passed without much comment but is clearly on
the minds of designers is the user experience around these new, connected,
intelligent vehicles. Examples of simplification and humanisation of the
backend technology were in evidence on most of the major stands and
differentiates the automakers from the OEMs serving them, who focused very much
more on the technology than the package. Perhaps this is just a result of it
being CES, but I’d like to think that exposure to Silicon Valley has finally
made car manufacturers savvy to the needs of human beings, not car salesmen.
Final thought
Phew. That was a long ol’ post… and there’s more. The final
thing I have to say on the subject of cars at CES was that the coolest one
there was actually a scooter: the electric GOGORO from Taiwan, which debuted
last year and features easily portable removable batteries that you can charge
at home or at public charging stations. Simple and brilliant. Coming to the US
in 2016.
Comments
Post a Comment