Concept Vehicles and Latest Car Technology from the Consumer Electronics Show

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Concept Vehicles and Latest Car Technology from the Consumer Electronics Show

Posted on December 15, 2017 – Cars Shows

For people who love technology, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is like Christmas and your birthday rolled together into one irresistible gift. While the fair is about the latest technological advances in general, CES has gradually imposed itself as the industry conference where car manufacturers reveal their groundbreaking innovations.

Virtual and augmented reality, digital health, Internet of Things, 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence and robotics, this year’s show held in Las Vegas left no stone unturned.

Automotive innovation takes the lion’s share as car making is one of the areas that are experiencing fast-paced changes. A few months ago, New Zealand could boast of having its first 3D-printed car, the sales of electric cars is gaining momentum globally, and of course there is the ongoing debate around driverless vehicles.

Toyota

This year, Toyota certainly garnered a lot of attention with their ‘mobility ecosystem and e-palette concept vehicle’.

If you are looking for something pretty, you may feel underwhelmed by Toyota’s offering, although the rectangular lines of their revolutionary cars and vans have a certain minimalistic beauty, it may take some time for us to get used to the unusual shape of the vehicles.

Like other driverless vehicles, there is no front or back. Primarily destined for businesses, their priority is to be flexible and adaptable to a wide range of uses. The large external surface can be branded as required and the interior of the cabin optimises space: with a low floor and no interior ‘barriers’, equipment can be installed to suit the business’s needs: taxis, mobile retail shops or, why not, a mobile hotel room that takes you to your next destination while you sleep!

To make things simpler for companies, Toyota envisages to produce only three sizes. With a common management software, the flow of information should be seamless throughout the fleet.

Those concept vehicles benefit from Toyota’s proprietary Mobility Services Platform (MSPF), with a user-friendly interface and, most importantly, it is compatible with the software companies already use.

Technology suppliers can receive an open Application Programming Interface (API) to gather and analyse information such as the state of the vehicles, making it easier to schedule maintenance, and vehicle controls required to develop autonomous driving systems. Thanks to the e-Palette Concept, the vehicles will also be able to receive over-the-air updates for these systems.

All information collected on the cars and vans through this interface will be sent to Toyota’s data centre to support a variety of features such as finance plans management, technical management, optimisation of the usage of the fleet and more.

While there have been some whispers that these concept vehicles would remain concepts – which Toyota vehemently rejects – some big names certainly believe enough in it to partner up with the Japanese car maker. Amazon, Pizza Hut and Uber are but a few companies who will collaborate to develop the design and technical activities of the programme.

 

Cars as an extension of the home

Now, your car may look like a second home from home these days, with children’s toys and grocery bags strewn across the back seats and a less than pristine appearance, but it may well truly become a part of your home thanks to the Internet of Things.

Hyundai unveiled such a vehicle, which can connect to Smart applications and talk to Smart devices in the home. Running low on milk? Your car can suggest a detour via your favourite grocery store on the way home and calculate the best route.

Ford and Volkswagen both have plans to integrate Amazon’s Alexa into their cars in the next year. Car owners can control their car’s engine through Amazon Echo and, if you are listening to music or an audiobook in the car, you can pick up where you left off in your home and vice versa.

Artificial Intelligence

The integration of AI has been one of the most prominent themes of this year’s show. While the technology is still seen as a gadget, it is gradually becoming more main stream as virtual assistants are fitted in everyday devices, from alarm clocks to fridges.

It will still be some time before AI reaches its full potential for customers but its future is promising and car manufacturers have been prompt to harness its capabilities to collect data to understand drivers better.

Autonomous cars

Despite many announcements by the major makes, we are years away from being able to purchase autonomous cars. The technology itself isn’t flawless and allowing such vehicles on the road will require in-depth changes to laws and potentially road infrastructure.

Ford, for example, are intent on diversifying their business and are making forays into developing an operating system for driverless cars. They have partnered with Qualcomm to create an open-source platform to connect cars and a ‘Transportation Mobility Cloud’.

General Motors have announced an autonomous vehicle concept without any steering wheel or pedals while Volkswagen and Hyundai have the support of Aurora in their research on driverless vehicles.

Toyota introduced an improved LiDAR system which gives cars fitted with it a visibility of up to 200m in all directions. They are now the competitor to beat with Velodyne’s LIDAR, the HDL-64E, only giving cars visibility of up to 120m while its most popular version, the VLP-16 Puck, has a range of 100 meters.

However, there is so much appetite for self-driving cars that, despite the fact that the technology is still in its infancy, some have already been tested in ‘controlled’ environments such as airports and retirement communities with less traffic so, one thing is sure, we will see cars without drivers on the roads in the future.

If you need to ship your car to New Zealand, give us a ring to discuss your requirements on +64 9 309 1163 or ask for a quote online and someone from our friendly team will get in touch to review your options.

 

 

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