One of the biggest automobile industry conferences of the year is coming to a close. The NAIAS conference presentations and technology has been astonishing! The greatest minds in the industry have come together to bring the latest technological changes in the automobile industry from a functional 3D printed car to raising more awareness for e mobility!
Who knows, the car you will be driving five years from now might be electric or totally 3D printed!
3D printed car
The 3D printed car called La Bandita is the world’s first virtual reality designed, engineered, and 3D printed car! The company believes customers could design and 3D print their own vehicles in the future. The first prototype has been produced with months of testing, and this vehicle is showing promising results.
Autonomous self-driving cars
From Uber to now autonomous self-driving grocery getters, the world of autonomous vehicles shows no signs of slowing down. In Boston, Stop & Shop has a partnership with Robomart. The vehicle drives up to the grocery store, an employee adds your groceries inside, and the vehicle is in route to your home!
How is this done? With the right AI, cameras, radars, and technological changes in the automobile industry, new vehicles have been engineered to become autonomous vehicles. In the automobile industry, there are concerns autonomous vehicles should have a combination of cameras, sensors, or radars.
A great example is the Sony A7R II camera installed inside of an autonomous self-driving vehicle. The vehicle has state-of-the-art cameras and sensors that detect objects around the vehicle. In the image you’ll notice all the purple shows the vehicle detecting items and humans around it.
Electric and e-mobility
Two trending topics in the automobile industry are electric cars and e-mobility. The definition of e mobility means “the development of electric-powered drivetrains designed to shift vehicles away from fossil fuels…” The push of electric cars is becoming a trending topic in the industry.
Tesla is one company that comes to mind that has paved the way for e-mobility. One of its newest debuts is a portable plug in charger. This allows for your vehicle to be charged on the go without any worries of being stranded somewhere.
Several other large names in the industry have launched vehicles with the ability to be half electric and half gas fueled. This helps cut fossil fuel emission and usage but still doesn’t allow for full e-mobility.
At the NAIAS show, several automakers made promises for new electric vehicles. One of those companies is Lincoln. One-third of internal combustion engine investments has been to electric cars to help make the integration to electric and e-mobility easier.
The innovations featured at this year’s NAIAS shows the future technological changes in the automobile industry. What changes do you think we will see in the near future?