[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the 2000s, it was widely believed that the automotive industry had reached the end of its rope.. The market in developed countries was considered to be saturated; the basic technology - the endothermic engine, of 19th century conception - no longer had any margin for evolution; the use of the automobile was in the dock on the double front of urban pollution and global warming; new behaviours and new sensitivities were growing on the part of the public... in short, it was now a fossilised sector, like the fuel it used.
It only took a few years and the entry of a few decidedly new economy operators to radically change perspective and paradigm. Today, the automotive sector attracts billions of dollars of investment and new engineering and design talentand again seems capable of having a vision to project into the future of humanity.
As in chemical reactions, the change of state came about through the fusion of two formulas.
The protagonists of this new story are essentially two: Tesla Motors and Google.
The first made concrete the idea of an all-electric car with performance and range comparable to cars with an endothermic engine. The second firmly believed in releasing the car from the driver, freeing people from a tedious and dangerous task, as statistics speak for themselves: 90% of road accidents are due to human error. For both companies, the target year will be 2020.
Tesla is continuing to evolve its product, now with three models in the range, with theentry level sold at a list price of $35,000 and getting thousands of people queuing in front of dealerships to reserve the car and almost a million customers worldwide. The brand is therefore beginning to be known and appreciated and its proposal of full electric cars with excellent performance, high safety, great roominess and design quality is seducing the collective imagination. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla MotorsHe also stated that the software that manages his cars is already able to make the vehicle park itself within a 10-metre radius and autonomously drive out of the parking space to the driver, open the garage door by itself and connect with the home automation system to set up its own induction charging system. By 2020, Teslas will have soft-hardware systems capable of driving the car from coast to coast in the US without a driver.
Google, for its part, has stated that the testing of its self-driving car continues apace. More than 1.6 million kilometres have already been driven on roads of all types, from freeways to densely trafficked urban routes, and there were only 18 accidents, all due to the behaviour of other human-driven vehicles, which did not comply with the highway code. By 2020 the Google car will be on sale at a price that can be assumed to be even more affordable than the Tesla 3given the more utilitarian positioning of the vehicle.
The earthquake generated in the market by these two players has forced traditional car manufacturers to push the R&D pedal, suddenly afraid of being relegated to the role that was once that of the dinosaurs.
Audi was one of the stars of CES 2015 presenting on its stand an A7 that arrived in Las Vegas completely autonomous, after leaving California and travelling 900 km. A demanding road test that confirmed the feasibility of the project and the maturity of the technology. The test was repeated in Europe, with German Transport Minister Dobrindt travelling on the Berlin-Munich motorway in a driverless A7.
Mercedes, on the other hand, went more to the point, marketing the first production self-driving car: the new E-Class, which will have the Drive Pilot suite on all models, making it fit for the fully autonomous driving trials in the State of Nevada. An event that testifies how close the future is when we will see pilot-less cars on our roads.
The icing on the cake, and further proof of how ripe the times are now - and the economic prospects very rich - Apple has also stated that it is working on a project of full electric self-driving cars, which will see the light of day within the next five years and of which the first renderings are already circulating.
Sources: Forexinfo.co.uk – Greenme.co.uk[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_button dimension=”outline” corner_style=”full_rounded” size=”medium” icon=”mk-icon-home” url=”/” align=”center” margin_top=”30″ margin_bottom=”0″ margin_right=”0″]Torna alla Home[/mk_button][/vc_column][/vc_row]
