If highly gifted researchers in the Future They usually ask quite simple questions, which are hardly answered by today's technology. This is one of the sobering findings of an inventory that has now been presented by experts at the Nissan Future Lab. The scientists of various disciplines are researching for the car manufacturer Renault-Nissan from three continents what a future self-driving car has to be able to do. They think about the future use of a private car, for example, in car sharing, talk about the denser networking of the car with the environment via the Internet and prophesy a new form of human coexistence.
There's Melissa Cefkin, for example, researching everyday behavior for Renault-Nissan in Silicon Valley, California. She examines how cars and pedestrians communicate with each other at a crossroads when traffic lights do not regulate cooperation. "Often there is eye contact or even driver's gestures when a pedestrian hesitantly waits in front of the crossing," she says. In the future, instead of a person behind the wheel, this must be an autonomous driving car. "Getting in touch with the outside world," explains the social anthroposophist with a doctorate, "is one of the key demands on the self-driving car of tomorrow. It has to learn how to think like a person ".
All this is comparatively easy to master on a little-traveled intersection thanks to the many sensors on the future-mobility vehicle. But what about the mega-cities of this world? With the multi-lane roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the chaos of New York's Times Square or the downtown throng in Mumbai, where the right of the fittest fights for the right of way. The researchers acknowledge that there are various conditions throughout the world that are also related to the character and culture of each country.
Maarten Sierhuis, the head of the Nissan-Future Lab in Silicon Valley, shows examples of videos. In the US, pedestrians are usually given special consideration, clearly marked transitions, attention to turning right, or slow driving when passers-by want to cross the street. Quite different is a filmed scene from the Brazilian megacity Sao Paulo. Here you can see how motorists enforce their way through the stream of pedestrians on a zebra crossing at a crossing at walking pace. A vehicle that stopped for a short time was punished with an angry honking concert. "That's common there," says Sierhuis. "A self-driving car must therefore be programmed to the customs of the country in which it should be on the way."
Such programming must take into account thousands of conceivable scenarios. How to do that, the scientists do not say. "That's not our job," says one. "We only research in which direction should be developed, how the life outside in traffic actually is". So it's up to the engineers how to handle the technical challenges. One thing is certain: today's means of dense city traffic for a self-driving car can not be controlled. Also because an initially lonely autonomous vehicle would be hopelessly overtaxed in the flock of cars steered by people and their emotions.
Another focus of research at the Nissan Future Lab is the use of the car, which is as pure as possible. What about car sharing when several people share ownership of their means of transportation. For Rachel Nguyen, director of the European Future Lab site in Paris, sees a new form of social coexistence, especially in the cities. New communities can emerge that build on fairness when it comes to equitable sharing of common ownership. After all, the owners must always agree on who is allowed to drive when and where by car. Bottlenecks, for example during vacation time, have to be managed in partnership.
But how can research or even a car company educate the character of car sharing customers to cooperate? There is no answer to that yet. For today's examples show that common ownership, for example, on a boat, a riding horse or a holiday apartment in practice often leads to violent disputes. Rachel Nguyen knows about the problem, but hopes for a new culture where consensus is about ownership. The new Nissan Micra, due out in the spring, is set to launch a leasing project called "Get and Go", which involves car sharing for up to five people. The vehicles should be networked so that there is always clarity about the availability of the Micra.
A tangible success, the Renault Nissan think tank but already show. The use of disused batteries of the electric vehicles Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe is intended to create new possibilities for the storage of energy. In the future, the batteries will serve as emergency power storage in the stadium of the Amsterdam football club Ajax. (Peter Maahn / SP-X)