If you're going to have a car show that tries to probe deep into the future of not just cars but humanity's very relationship to cars, then it may as well be in Los Angeles. At the same time as the LA show every year, there's a major competition to create the most radical and far-sighted concepts of what our future cars could be and how we will work and interact with them. It seems appropriate that the same city that gave us the dystopian/utopian automotive futures of The Terminator, Demolition Man, Robocop and Minority Report (not to mention the unbridled automotive horror of Christine) should also try and tell us something more realistic about the way our personal transport will evolve.
You might think it frivolous to even speculate. After all, how can we possibly know what technologies will even be available in 30, 40 or 50 years' time? Well, actually, you may be surprised to know sci-fi often informs and inspires the way real science works and progresses. After all, the first long-duration submarine powered by a mysterious radioactive source wasn't found on the drawing boards of the US Navy, it was found in the pages of Jules Verne's 20,00 Leagues Under The Sea. Likewise, Steve Jobs didn't invent tiny personal communicators or computers that you picked up and put down like a book - Star Trek did...
So, within touching distance of Hollywood itself, some of the world's top car makers have come up with automotive inspiration for the future, cars that could just possibly could be on your driveway in half-a-century's time. Here's a preview for the 2014 LA Design Challenge, titled 'Sensing the Future: How will vehicles interact with us in 2029?'
Honda's Advanced Design Studio Tokyo's entry is possibly the most 'vanilla' of all the concepts in this 11th annual LA Auto Show Design Challenge. A bubble on wheels, it's an autonomous car, in which there sits a device called the Honda Ball. A combined steering wheel, joystick and mouse pad, this allows the occupant (it would be a stretch to call them a driver) to instruct and control the vehicle. Really though, this is a self-driving pod and the innovation is in the multi-function screens that make up all of its extensive glazing. They allow the occupant to either view and interact with the outside world through augmented reality or simply sit back and be entertained as they whoosh silently along. It's all very clever, but has rather the feel of things we've seen before.
Ditto Honda Americas R&D Studio's entry. A sleek, low, red-and-black entry, badged with Honda's luxury Acura brand, it looks as if an Accord, an F1 car and a Battlestar Galactica fighter rocket all collided and then melted together. It uses biometrics to recognise the occupants and tailor the cabin to their needs and uses flexible materials to physically change the shape and layout of that cabin. Clever stuff, but didn't Renault come up with something similar in the early nineties?
Peterbilt's entry is rather more interesting, and possibly the most relevant to our motoring future. Famous for its big 18-wheel trucks, Peterbilt has submitted a design that changes not only the shape of the vehicle, but also the role of the driver. Inspired by electronic convoying and programmes such as the European SARTRE road-trains project (which sees the use of a concept for long journeys being undertaken in convoy with big lorries - electronically linked to a truck travelling at a fixed speed, running in close convoy saving fuel and allowing the drivers of the cars to relax and hand over control) the SIMBIOTUX: Life In Motion concept (all these cars are linked by genuinely terrible names...) sees the truck driver as being a new guardian of the road, leading convoys of cars and other trucks safely along the highway. Not quite sure it'll transform the truck, as Peterbilt hopes, into "the new airline pilot..." nor if the smell-based warning system will work, but ideas such as real-time satellite information warning of future obstacles and problems ahead is a useful one.
?Qoros is an Israeli-Chinese company so perhaps it's not surprising that it's bringing the most nannying and obstructive concept to the show. The Qloud (oh dear...) features a versatile cockpit layout that allows the driver to either face front and centre when driving or to swivel around under autonomous mode to chat to the rear-seat passengers. More worryingly, if the system detects that your driving is becoming “irresponsible” it will lock you out and take over automatic control. Qoros clearly thinks that Net Nanny knows best...
It's down to Infiniti then to provide both the most exciting and most bat shit insane concept of the bunch. The SYNAPTIQ (sounds like a nicotine patch...) presumes a future where major motorsports events will be multi-discipline; like an automotive triathalon. So, the car is designed to perform like an F1 racer for the first leg, an off-road Baja-style 4x4 for the second and then, um, sprout jet engines and fly like an F15 Eagle for the final, Reno-Air-Races-style leg. Wackiest of all? It's controlled by the driver's thoughts, as they wear a futuristic 'unitard' that allows the car direct access to the spinal cord for natural-reflex-fast agility. Nothing Hollywood hasn't thought of before (Go Go Gadget-Car anyone?), but pretty awesome all the same.