Autonomo - designed for the year 2030 (future cars)

Charles Rattray's vision of what the automotive industry will be capable of by the year 2030 is far more feasible that it may seem at first glance.

Autonomo 2030 Concept by Charles Rattray (Image: Charles Rattray)

Autonomous transport is central to the whole idea. Drawing heavily on the principles of swarm robotics, the self-driving autonomos travel in tight clusters that shift their configurations to maintain an uninterrupted flow of traffic while allowing particular vehicles to reach their respective destinations. This so called "platoon mode" allows to vastly reduce energy consumption through reducing the aerodynamic impact on the vehicles further back down the platoon. Thanks to microwave sensors, the spaces between vehicles are reduced to mere 20cm (7.8 inches), as keeping a safe distance from cars ahead is no longer required. Another type of microwave detectors scan the road surface ahead to prime the suspension accordingly and provide a smoother ride.

Needless to say, the whole operation is run by computers. Each drive-by-wire autonomo has an onboard computer that crunches the data received from an array of sensors (e.g. radar, microwave, lidar, optical and infrared sensors) as well as from external feedback systems. This enables monitoring the road 200m (656 feet) in front and behind the vehicle, or a whole platoon of vehicles, regardless of weather conditions. The cars understand their surroundings well enough to anticipate any changes in the road environment and react to them much quicker that even the most experienced humans. Even the acute senses of the homo sapiens are no match to a set of hi-definition cameras coupled with object recognition technologies capable of interpreting human gestures and predicting the path of other vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians or any other potentially hazardous objects.

This local level of awareness is augmented by data streamed from a constantly updated centralized database responsible for the real-time balancing of mobility demands across the entire network. Such a database would be controlled by intelligent algorithms that learn from the information that is fed to them. Historical data and the data collected in real time would be used to efficiently match the infrastructure real estate with the changing demands of ever fluctuating traffic.

All this would be achieved without overhauling the existing road infrastructure. Instead of making roads wider to accommodate new lanes, Rattray chose to make his concept car a 1.15m (3.77 feet) wide two-seater. This doubles the throughput of our roads, with two autonomos fitting abreast in a single lane. Maneuverability is additionally improved by a tilting design and by wheels that allow movement in all directions

The aerodynamic body shares the length and the the wheelbase of a 2009 Mini Cooper, but - unlike the Mini - it is covered with two transparent photovoltaic layers that harvest electric energy to be stored in ultra-efficient lightweight batteries and passed on to the in-wheel motors. Since the passengers are not busy driving, they can enjoy the views through opaque, one-way vision windows or amuse themselves by playing around with the on-board augmented reality screen. Charging the vehicle through electrodynamic induction or energy transfer lasers is done wirelessly and can be performed on the go, via charging pads embedded in the road surface. Energy can also be shared within a platoon.

(via Gizmag)