Curated Content Editor

Lexus Focuses on Human-Centric Autonomous Design
By Brett Foote

Two new designs highlight the future of people-focused autonomous driving.

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iTrader: (5)

While I realize that there is a tremendous amount of work being put into these systems and overall concept designs to maximize the idea of using a personal single passenger train compartment and while there is certainly a need for this technology for the elderly and disabled... outside of those parameters I have zero interest in the very design ethos they propose in the quote below:

"The idea here is that autonomous vehicles are the destination - a place where owners can relax, unwind, and enjoy the experience of travel without having to stress over actually driving the vehicle itself. And while we love the basic act of driving, sometimes, this seems like a rather pleasant alternative."

This is the total opposite of everything I actually like and love about the experience of using... and driving... an automobile. I *prefer* the stress of actually driving the vehicle myself. It's not boring to me unless the vehicle itself is exceedingly boring by design. The very act of focusing on driving a rewarding driver-centric vehicle is, to me, a relaxing and unwinding experience. And yes, I will even apply this to the temporary minor inconvenience of having to get through a traffic jam while driving a car.

"Meanwhile, Sandman foresees a future where people are even more buried in their digital devices, and the simple gesture of waving to a pedestrian is lost. With the community in mind, Sandman has envisioned a vehicle that connects the inside to the outside world with 360-windows, fully rotational seats, a speaker system for interaction with cyclists or pedestrians, and even a chalk-writing system to leave custom art or messages in the street. To increase quality time with passengers, the interior would mimic a cozy cafe with a digital fireplace, pillows, and a terrarium-like ceiling. Sandman also proposes a cooperative ownership model that increases affordability and makes for a more inclusive, meaningful future."

There will be a place for such designs of course but there is no way I would ever have the desire to actually buy outright such a vehicle design anyway. This means their shared or subscription service model would be the only one that would make sense. This is not a vehicle concept you can actually drive or appreciate the fun of driving with and if you were to customize it yourself (assuming you owned such a machine) you would only do so as a kind of living room experience rather than as a traveling tool with customizations in the driveline and electrical systems tailored to the owner/driver.

And actually this brings up direct comparisons to city public transportation systems which would arguably be the most affordable non-personal transportation model for the greatest number of people.

"Gage believes automated vehicles and long commutes make for the perfect environment for neurotechnology to create a "brain-car" interface that allows the automobile to be integrated directly into how the driver feels. By recording a range of human signals, from human EKG to face micro gestures, Gage envisions that Lexus could create a profile of a person's mood and use it to change the ambiance of the car. The car is capable of changing the lights and seating position, cueing up a playlist, or silencing the radio, depending on its occupant's mood.

Focusing on what makes people tick, especially when behind the wheel, has always been central to Lexus design," said Lisa Materazzo, vice president of Lexus marketing. "Partnering with TED has allowed us to explore new human-centric ideas for an automated future with visionary experts in their fields."

Increasingly while I always like to keep up with the latest technology and have largely grown up with connected devices of one kind or another I am increasingly trying to limit my overall immersion in electronic devices. There is only so much that can be avoided especially when we all carry a modern cellphone around but a vehicle, especially one that you personally own or even lease, fundamentally isn't the same thing despite this trend in that direction.

With this many potential human biometric monitoring parameters envisioned it would make far more sense to me to take the autonomous electric vehicle and quite literally tear it down significantly remove and rewire the car so as not to be so incredibly invasive to its owner and passengers. The very basic driver monitoring functions for safety would be the exceptions. This would be a tremendous feat in and of itself requiring a lot of reverse engineering of various control systems and the design of custom open source circuit control boards to replace the OEM parts that have deeply integrated human biometric monitoring functions designed into them.

It's a very easy thing for me to suggest DIYers or specialists doing in the future and quite another for it to actually be done with a result that still allows the basic functions of the vehicle to remain intact. Nonetheless if this is the direction envisioned by the manufacturer it seems there will be no choice but to pursue a method of disabling this extreme level of monitoring so many aspects of the human occupants while they travel.

...Of course all of that would go against the entire design philosophy going into this model of a self-driving vehicle.

It will come down to how the public responds to this kind of vehicle paradigm. These types of vehicles, akin to state of the art horseless stagecoach cabins or personalized private train car cabins, sound like they make the most sense as a service vehicle you wouldn't even want to own. Or... if you did want to own one and could afford it... it would still be used as an entertainment or limo type vehicle anyway.

But it would still not replace the concurrent diametrically opposite existence of a personal driver-focused vehicle that someone actually wants to drive for the sake of enjoying driving that vehicle.

And also I am interested in how such "autonomous bubble pod" designs will fit into a world with an increased emphasis on public transportation efforts at least in the major cities that don't already have large build outs. There is likely to be this type of autonomous vehicle design as well as every other personal passenger vehicle design existing together along with specifically targeted public transportation efforts.

The largest shift for the near future will probably be how these types of designs further affect rideshare and traditional taxi services and large city bus public services.

But there is going to be a sizable desire to actually own one's own vehicle that some will even wish to drastically customize and in addition to that there will still be a sizable desire that people will have to drive their vehicles for multitudes of reasons regardless of whether that will involve partial A.I. involvement in the process or zero A.I. involvement.

This type of rolling living room vehicle design won't be for 100% of the population. Even the current SUV, CUV and crossover trend does not hit with 100% of the car buying, owning and driving population.

Despite my criticisms I see the vehicle designs in the article as being an inevitable thing to come. It just comes down to how prevalent that one idea of what a vehicle is and is desired to be will be alongside other ideas for what a vehicle is and is desired to be.