Last week, I had to take a flight from Heathrow. I usually park at T5 Pod Parking. It’s quick, easy, simple and I like it.
I have often thought – why aren’t these little bad boy pods on the streets?
So, for those who don’t know… these pods are self driving (obviously programmed for the track they have to take), no humans required, electric (saving a lot of tonnes of fuel that buses would have taken to do the same journey!) and quiet – I mean, I can sit there and do a few emails for those few minutes journey.
Back to my question – I did wonder, why aren’t they on the streets? – I’m sure someone like GM (General Motors), Ford or Toyota would do something with their self driving technology and put it into a pod like this. Where’s Tesla….?! – Here’s an idea for you Tesla!
Oh… hold the press. Someone is working on them and they’ll be coming sooner than we thought!
Cruise – the company, with GM… have designed, built and piloted a self driving pod/vehicle called the Cruise Origin!
So – they say, “When we got rid of all that human-driver stuff, we traded it for something precious: space.
The Cruise Origin looks big. But in fact, it’s no bigger than your average car. It’s just more efficient, making full use of the space it takes up on the road.
The doors don’t hinge outward. They slide open, so bikers are safer.
The entry is low to the ground, and three times larger than that of an average car — wide enough to make room for one person to step in while another person steps out.
Every seat is extra-legroom. And they all face each other, so you can have a conversation with family or friends.”
Very similar to the T5 Pod!
Personally, I think this is awesome!
It’s also, quite safe….
“When human beings drive, we rely on our eyes and ears. But even in simple suburban environments, with 20/20 vision and perfect hearing, we can only look in one direction, and we can only see and hear so much.
The Cruise Origin is powered by a brand-new, all-electric platform built by General Motors. It’s got what’s called redundancy, meaning there are no single points of failure across sensing, compute, networking, or power — because there’s no backup human driver.
Its multi-layered sensor suite is designed to keep track of multiple people and objects — even if they’re far away, in pitch-black, or hidden by rain or fog.”
Cruise Origin is currently in San Fran being tested 24/7 by the Cruise employees…. but they’ll start to invite members of the public and then look to roll it out around the States and me personally…. I can’t wait till it hits the UK!
That’s right – one of these on your street…very soon!
