Good road, good Netflix, relaxing spa
Faraday Future, a company known in the automotive innovation industry, announces that its next vehicle model, the FF 91 (1), will be "the third living space on the Internet" for users. Without going into what is meant by the concept of the first two spaces, the third one certainly concerns a level of networked vehicle integration that we have not yet experienced.
During last year's AutoMobility LA 2019 conference, everyone was expecting the startup that made a lot of noise in the media to finally be able to showcase its first production model. Nothing out of this.
Instead, Faraday Future CEO Carsten Breitfeld offered a radical vision of a world in which cars become mobile, internet-connected, almost living spaces that combine the best of the home living room, office, and smartphone.
If you're disappointed, Faraday Future describes itself not as a car company, but as a "smart company in the mobility ecosystem." By that logic, the startup doesn't want its announced "ultra-luxury" car. FF 91it was just a different car.
The mission of the company is to change the concept of digital life in our cars, representatives of Faraday Future say.
Breitfeld said during the presentation. -
Not a bus at all
Of course, the FF 91 has incredible comfort for the driver and passengers, like a spaceship.antigravity» points or a mode that heats and ventilates the seats and adjusts interior lighting while playing atmospheric music.
However, from our point of view, it is more interesting to equip the car with three modems for 4G connection in the LTE network, each with a different purpose - one for automatic Car diagnostics, another for wireless software updateand the third to manage system , i.e. entertainment in the car and providing information.
Machine learning algorithms must create individual driver and passenger profiles to automatically adjust the behavior of the car and its systems to preferences.
Inside, there will be a total of eleven different screens, including a main touchpad to control the system in the dashboard. A 27-inch HD screen will slide down from the ceiling. However, since the Faraday Future project is not completely autonomous, this screen is for the passengers, not the driver.
Contrary to what some might expect, the FF 91 will not be an uninteresting "bus" from an automotive standpoint. With engine power up to 1050 hp an electric car must accelerate to hundreds in less than 3 seconds. Batteries will provide him with a range of up to 600 km on a single charge.
According to experts, the true intention of Faraday Future is to turn time spent in the car into a digital income.
If cars in this class one day become fully autonomous, the point of turning a connected vehicle into a kind of joint with applications on wheels is still growing. Manufacturers are thinking of something similar to the ecosystem that has developed around the iPhone over the years.
In the first half of 2019, consumers around the world spent about $25,5 billion on the Apple App Store. Passengers already use in-flight infotainment systems to watch movies and games, so the FF 91's manufacturer's bills are not unfounded.
However, this has its potential. Dark side. A fully networked vehicle can make it easier to collect interesting data, such as geolocation, that is very valuable to marketers.
If the car recognizes faces and stores other personal data, we start to think about the security of this data.
In our imagination, we can see ads that turn on, for example, during a red light stop, because the car, its passengers and their route are carefully and constantly monitored, and the behavioral targeting system knows everything about their place, traffic and behavior not only in Internet.
From the 90s
In fact, network integration, in-vehicle displays, or the provision of collectively known services are already becoming the norm among car manufacturers. An entertainment service called Karaoke, which is closely monitored by everyone, such as their models, and integration into the car system, for example. Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Ford, GM, and Volvo are just as good and have been offering various web-based features through technology partners like and .
The car manufacturer that introduced the first services on the network was General Motors, which offered them as early as 1996. system on Cadillac DeVille, Seville and Eldorado models.
The main purpose of this innovation was to ensure safety and receive assistance in the event of an accident on the road. Initially, OnStar worked only in voice mode, but with the development of mobile services, the system has, for example, the ability to send a location using GPS. This service was a success for GM and encouraged others to implement such features in their vehicles.
Remote diagnostics appeared in 2001. Until 2003, network car services provided, among other things, reports on the technical condition of vehicles or driving directions. In the summer of 2014, it became the first manufacturer in the automotive industry to offer 4G LTE Wi-Fi access via hotspots.
Diagnostics based on data generated by a growing number of sensors in vehicles has become the norm. The systems were provided with options to alert not only the service station, but even the owner of the vehicle over time.
In 2017, European start-up Stratio Automotive delivered more than 10 vehicles with features based on algorithms that predict problems and situations requiring action, which was especially useful for large fleet operators.
2. Cars and the road in the network
Connect to everything
There are usually five types of car network connection (2).
First infrastructure connection, which sends up-to-date information about safety, road conditions, possible obstacles, etc. to the car.
Another communication between vehicles, providing information about the speed and location of surrounding vehicles to avoid accidents or traffic jams.
Connecting a car to the cloud allows you to communicate with the Internet of things, energy networks, smart homes, offices and cities.
The fourth type of networking is related to interaction with pedestrians on the road Mostly for their safety.
The fifth kind is communication with everything, that is, access to any information and data circulating on the Internet.
Together, these activities are primarily designed to improve mobility management (3), shopping on the go, from fuel and tolls to shopping for Christmas gifts while traveling.
3. Smartphone driving a car
They will also make it easier to manage the technical condition of the car and prevent breakdowns, as well as increase safety through functions that warn the driver of external and internal threats, moreover, support him while driving, partially or fully automate driving, and ultimately provide entertainment and good the well-being of residents.
The main problems related to the popularization of multifaceted cars, which drivers pay attention to in public opinion polls, are the vulnerability of car systems to hacking (4) and uncertainty about the technical reliability of highly computerized solutions.as well as the already mentioned privacy threats.
However, the number of "cars on the Internet" is constantly growing and will continue to grow. KPMG expects to have over 2020 million new vehicles of this type worldwide by the end of 381! Or is it no longer “cars”, but “smart living spaces” and not “will appear in the world”, but “will appear on the Internet”?
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