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Vehicles
Over the last 10 years, vehicles of all kinds have become intertwined with technology. First, it was GPS and satellite radio in the high-end automobiles at the turn of the century; now, they are common and expected. Five years ago, autonomous transportation was forecast to be commonly available by 2020. While that has not come to pass, primarily due to safety concerns the advent of 5G and its ability for vehicles to talk to each other and inform each other of conditions instantly due to high speed and lag-free transmission, it will be back on track quickly.
This year it was not just the high-end companies, such as Mercedes, showing pre-release vehicles; it was Ford, Jeep, Sony, Nissan, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, Hyundai, as well as some names you would not expect, such as Byton and Fisker. All of these companies had autonomous offerings with the ability to be driven but clearly designed to be totally autonomous. The demonstration of the Hyundai Mobis was impressive, to say the least. It is clearly designed to operate on its own, but a push of the button and it converts to a fully human drivable vehicle. Otherwise, there is absolutely no clue as to how a human might operate it.
This year it was not just ground transportation but actual prototypes of autonomous drone-like air taxies. One that got lots of attention was shown by a partnership between Hyundai and Uber.
Last year, New Future Transportation Inc. (NFT )—a Silicon Valley developer of autonomous commuter transportation—presented the concept of their state-of-the-art two- or four-seater electric vertical landing and takeoff (eVTOL) vehicle at CES 2019 in Eureka Park. This vehicle is an “affordable” autonomous commuter transportation vehicle designed to drive like a family car; however, it flies autonomously for door-to-door commuting.
This year, NFT is developing an eVTOL vehicle that will work both as an aircraft and ground car (i.e., a drive-fly vehicle). Mountain View is NFT’s research and development center. It has a Center of Excellence based in Israel, and its quality assurance and manufacturing center will be located in Japan. A prototype of the vehicle is supposed to be completed later this year. This is a far-out concept for most of us, but this is the second year that it was at CES. With the prototype now scheduled for this year, it is something that we will follow with the real test being real measurable progress by next year’s show.
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