Although North American auto sales totaled 16.5 million for 2014, and are likely to exceed that number for 2015, growth in other global markets haven’t been as good or as consistent. Automakers and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) aren’t letting slower sales outside North America to deter them from investing in new technologies to drive the future innovation of the auto industry. Just as the most advanced technologies for space travel have greatly impacted everyday life, the best technologies in Formula 1 racing are often major influences on future technologies for passenger vehicles. The industry and consumers are apt to benefit from any or all of the following 5 innovations.
Cities have always been hubs of technological experimentation, shaped by the people who inhabit them and the tools they use. We can still see the marks, both charming and garish, from technologies of years past — from old aqueducts to telephone booths to the damage done by cars.
Hours after Uber launched driverless cars in Pittsburgh, aldermen proposed an ordinance to ban driverless cars in Chicago.
At TechCrunch Disrupt SF this year, famed iPhone and PlayStation hacker George Hotz unveiled the first official product of his automotive AI startup, Comma.ai. The Comma One is a $999 add-on shipping before the end of the year, with a $24 monthly subscription for its software, which Hotz says will be able to drive your car from Mountain View to San Francisco without requiring a driver to touch the wheel, the brake or the gas.
