Car

Every second year, the IAA becomes the Mekka of the automotive world. Since the IAA moved from Frankfurt to Munich in 2021, it also showcases other mobility solutions, not just cars. Much has been written in the last days about the cars, and here I want to give an overview about the other mobility options that were on show.

First Tesla Diner opens in Hollywood Tesla opened its first diner in Hollywood. The concept combines a Tesla charging station with foods and drinks as in a diner. The idea is that patrons spend the time it takes to charge their car batteries at the diner. Here they can eat fast food, buy Tesla merchandise or watch a movie on the big outside screens. The biggest appeal of this diner seems to be its retro-futuristic design - it apparently cannot decide if it is from the future or from the 1950s. Also people cannot seem to decide yet if this concept is going to be top or flop. According to reports on the web, long queues mainly form when the touchscreen stations for ordering food are broken. Also the popcorn-making humanoid robot apparently needs some time off in between. Will such fanciful service stations become the norm as electric vehicles are becoming more widespread, offering drivers a good time while they wait for their vehicles to be charged? Or will this concept become obsolete as soon as charging times reach the range of just a few minutes? In my humble opinion, the concept of the Tesla diner is a sign that the fully self-driving Tesla is not around the corner yet, as the really autonomous car could go charging by itself while the driver is doing something more worthwhile. Competition for the ICE - German company Flixtrain to launch high-speed trains The German company Flixtrain - together with Flixbus a subsidiary of Flix - announced its plans to enter the market for high-speed trains in Germany and also in Europe. It ordered 65 train sets at Spanish company Talgo. Its competitor Deutsche Bahn ordered the same trains, the difference is only that Flix will buy the locomotives from Siemens instead of Talgo. With this order the Deutsche Bahn will for the first time have serious competition in the long-distance passenger market. Flixtrain plans to beat its rival with cheaper fares and mandatory seat reservations. The passenger potential seems to be there, yet questions remain if they can get non-discriminating access to the tracks and also to the booking system of the Deutsche Bahn. And even if their concept is good, they still have to suffer from the overloaded and ailing railway infrastructure in Germany. I wish them all the best in their endeavor, as only real competition can bring about real improvements for the passengers. Title image generated with ChatGPT

This week’s issue of The Economist raised an interesting question in a book review: Why do we focus on technological innovation to solve problems we could already solve with technology we already have? The question raised in the Economist was: Autonomous vehicles are supposed to make roads safer. But if our goal is to make roads safer, why not focus more on public transportation instead of new technology for cars?

Last week I wrote about how owning a car can be the most efficient mobility solution for an individual.{{ double-space-with-newline }}In that article, I argued that because of this fact, cities that want to reduce traffic caused by cars should try to change the equation for individuals, so that other options like walking or public transportation appear more efficient than driving. However, there is another side to my argument: While a car is usually the most efficient transportation solution for an individual, it may also be the most efficient solution for society. This is because car owners take care of most of their own needs - they buy the car, they maintain it, they drive it. Society only has to provide the road. What are the consequences of this observation?

Owning a car is still a dream for many people around the world. Increasing car ownership brings many problems to cities and their inhabitants - noise, pollution, congestion, accidents and more. Communities and governments around the world are trying to find solutions to reduce these negative effects by reducing the number of cars or getting rid of them altogether. However, this goal seems to be elusive - for example, carsharing schemes have increased traffic instead of reducing the total number of cars in a city. In this article, I point out the fundamental problem that I believe lies at the heart of the failure to get rid of cars.

A few years ago, a great idea made the rounds: The sharing economy. Why own something if you could share the ownership - and the costs - with others? The idea permeated the auto industry. Many even saw the end of traditional car ownership. Fast forward to 2023, and that vision has yet to manifest. Car sales are booming around the world. There seems to be no trend towards sharing your car with others. What happened to the great idea of carsharing?

Imagine a city where all cars drive autonomously. In such a city, traffic could flow much more efficiently because a central intelligence could control the cars and interleave them at intersections. Also, you would never have to look for a parking space: Your car could drop you off at your destination and then find a parking space on its own. We are still a long way from fleets of self-driving cars, but the Carfax concept aims to change that by equipping all cars with a self-driving platform.

The IAA Mobility 2023 is over. What was on display besides the ubiquitous electric cars? Here is my personal review of one of the world’s biggest mobility shows.

Two of the automotive buzzwords of recent years have been vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. They promise greater safety for drivers. They also promise greater convenience and better traffic flow. But this technology has been a long time in the making. Where do we stand with these promises, and will they become reality any time soon?

Automated Valet Parking - this is a buzzword that appears frequently in the media these days. Press releases from companies promise that we will soon be freed from the task of finding a parking space in a garage. In the future, we will simply leave our cars at the entrance and they will be parked automatically. There are many different technologies competing for this future market. Where do we stand in this evolution? In this article, I will try to give an overview of the current state of the technology.