IKEA designs future autonomous vehicles

PanARMENIAN.Net - Once cars can finally drive themselves, people will have more time to enjoy the journey and do other, much more interesting stuff instead. At least that’s the concept behind some of the designs below, developed by retail giant IKEA's “future living lab,” SPACE10, based in Copenhagen, MIT Technology Review says.

SPACE10 was asked to come up with designs for autonomous vehicles that would be extensions of homes, offices, and local institutions. Some of the agency’s seven ideas, shown below, are almost practical. Who can’t imagine autonomously driven cafés or pop-up stores? In fact, they already exist in California—in the form of self-driving cars that have groceries stocked in their back seats.

Other concepts might need a bit more thought, particularly the ones that SPACE10 envisions delivering resources to underserved communities. It may be difficult, for example, for a self-driving health clinic to bring medical care to truly remote areas. Nevertheless, the designs are useful for sparking conversations about the ways autonomous vehicles could transform everyday life.