1. CES • Las Vegas
CES last January held up a mirror to the revolutions in the auto industry. Everything in the automotive industry is increasingly geared toward CASE (connected, autonomous, shared and electric) vehicles. These trends are complementing each other, and it was very visible at the 2019 CES that their first aggregated combination will be electric, completely autonomous robo-taxis.
Old borders between industries and sectors are changing, no matter whether we’re looking at automakers, tier-1 and -2 suppliers, or companies and industries previously wholly outside the automotive realm. There are new automakers and car brands, Byton, Polestar, Nio, Lynk & Co, Qoros, and others; previously unknown Chinese automakers like Aiways, Landwind, and Xpeng; digital outfits like GAFA, entertainment companies like Warner and Paramount, electronics companies including Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, and Pioneer; computer processor suppliers such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia; mobility service providers, and many startups now jostling to produce and equip tomorrow’s mobility interiors.
Robo-Taxi concepts were present in great volume at CES. Several manufacturers, Mercedes (Urbanetic), Toyota (MOOX), Audi (Aicon), Kia (READ Emotion), Nissan (Intelligent mobility) and their suppliers Denso, Aisin, Continental, Mobis, ZF showed a self-driving lounge concept that promises to turn drivers into riders and shuttle them from A to B in a cube on wheels. Naturally, we had to check them all out, and explore what it could mean for their interior experience at this stage of development.