Autonomous vehicles seem to be in the news on a weekly basis. For better or for worse, we believe that cars driving themselves is our inevitable future. This collection of thoughts and ideas explores this topic from the perspective of the future. What companies will exist? How will cities change? What stories will we tell? The following concept, podcast, and story take take a look at a few slices of reality that we all may experience in the next ten to twenty years.
Part 1: A startup pitch deck for a company that brings back the nostalgia of actually driving a car. By Caleb Kramer
Part 2: Len Kendall chats with Gabe Klein, former director of transportation for both Chicago and Washington D.C. as well as author of Startup City.
Part 3: Stephanie Kruzick and Krissan Pattugalan designed a mock-app. Business Insider recently projected that there would be 10 million self-driving cars on the road by 2020, meaning there will be 10 million people that now have time to spend on things other than driving. Rather than focus on what people will be doing in the backseat, let’s examine the tech opportunities that will arise now that our cars are becoming smarter than some of us.
Why an app? In our current society of non-autonomous vehicles, CarPlay has already become a huge benefit to drivers, so a real-time itinerary seems like the logical next step. After all, self-driving cars = more time to multitask = the flexibility to enjoy more leisure time.
Part 4: A peak into a fictional world filled with cars that move around the world on their own. Story and illustration by Averie Timm, Claire Fraze and Claire Cianca.
Auto
EXT — APARTMENT COMPLEX — DAY
Two women chat excitedly as they pack weekend bags into the back of a small, silver, pod-shaped car. The apartment complex that surrounds them is towering, and bleak.
LORETTA
Do you think we’ll ever come back?
Loretta winks.
VIOLET
Not if we can help it! I haven’t taken a proper vacation in years.
LORETTA
Oh, Violet, the champagne!
Loretta runs back to her apartment.
Violet lights a cigarette and sits on the bumper of the car to smoke. She looks off into the distance as the sun rises. Vibrant, violent colors race across the horizon.
Suddenly, the car turns on. Violet, startled, stares at the car. Loretta comes back with a bottle of champagne in each hand and puts them in the car.
VIOLET
Did you see that? The car just turned on by itself!
Loretta smiles coyly.
LORETTA
Isn’t it wonderful? It’s like he knows!
VIOLET
Who knows?
LORETTA
Auto! I named him Auto.
Loretta pats the car. Violet looks at Auto uncomfortably.
LORETTA
Ready? Let’s get on the road.
Loretta and Violet get into the back of Auto and buckle themselves into two sleek, metal chairs. Each seat has a cupholder attached, and a mini bar rests on one side. They begin pouring themselves glasses of champagne just as the car door closes.
INT — AUTO CAR — DAY
Loretta and Violet continue to drink champagne and catch up as Auto drives. A rundown landscape can be seen from the highway as dilapidated buildings and shanty towns speed past.
LORETTA
Oh my god. Do you remember when we ditched sixth period and went to the zoo?
Violet nearly chokes on her champagne as she laughs.
VIOLET
Wow, yes. Yes I do.
LORETTA
You puked because the flamingos smelled so bad!
The two women cackle, and Loretta pours them more champagne. They’ve finished the first bottle and are halfway into the second.
VIOLET
We saw the last black rhino that day. And now it’s gone.
No more black rhinos.
Violet’s speech is starting to slur as they become increasingly intoxicated.
LORETTA
Wow, really? How do you even remember that?
VIOLET
I just remember its sad eyes. The zoo sent it back to Zimbabwe a few years ago, but then a hunter came along in the dead of night and shot it. Hung its big, horned head above his fireplace.
Loretta is visibly disgusted. She finishes off her champagne and pours more.
VIOLET
What do you think that’s like? Killing off the last of something.
Loretta remains silent and stares down at her glass. The hum of Auto is heard in the background.
She holds out her champagne glass to cheers.
LORETTA
To the last, black rhino.
VIOLET
May he rest in peace!
Violet and Loretta CLINK their glasses together. They each take a sip and stare out the window.
INT — NIGHT — MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, DESERT
Loretta and Violet have passed out, drunk, with their heads against the windows. The terrain outside the car is entirely different now. They’re in the middle of a desert, and Auto is no longer driving on a road. It’s night, but the moon casts an eerie light over the desolate emptiness of the desert.
Auto drives over a bump and the entire car shakes. Violet jolts awake and peers out the window. She becomes visibly panicked.
VIOLET
Loretta, wake up! Where the fuck are we?
Violet shakes Loretta until she opens her eyes.
LORETTA
Whoa, what?
Her eyes adjust to the darkness as she peers out the window.
LORETTA
Wait, where are we?
VIOLET
Nowhere near where we’re supposed to be, that’s for sure.
Maybe you should ask your pal Auto.
Loretta leans forward into the front console of Auto, and taps on the control center. Rather than responding, Auto quickly changes the song to a new one: Roadhouse Blues by the Doors. The volume turns up, notch by notch, until both of the women are holding their ears in agony. The song is blasting.
LORETTA
What the hell, Auto!
EXT — NIGHT — MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, DESERT
Outside of the car in the deserted landscape, Auto drives over cacti and Roadhouse Blues screams so loudly inside the car that it’s radiating across the landscape outside of it.
Suddenly, the car comes to a dead halt. The music stops simultaneously, and the inside of the car goes black. Everything is still at once.
Loretta and Violet both burst out of the car and back away from it towards each other.
VIOLET
This was such a bad idea. We should have stayed home. I should have gone to work today, put my head down and just kept…
Violet’s rambling trails off as she stares at her Loretta, who is staring at Auto, perplexed.
VIOLET
This is your fault! You and your stupid pet car!
LORETTA
Violet…
Violet continues to ramble furiously.
VIOLET
Why can’t you ever listen! You never do, you always…
LORETTA
VIOLET. There are headlights coming toward us.
The two women look out into the distant desert at the approaching headlights, then instinctively sprint toward Auto. They reach the doors, which are now locked. Loretta and Violet anxiously bang on the windows and grasp at the locked door handles.
Auto’s engine starts and the women continue their attempt to get inside the car, to no avail. Auto’s sound system comes on, once again blasting Roadhouse Blues. Auto lurches forward, leaving Loretta and Violet behind in the dust. The song becomes increasingly quieter, and the crunch of the gravel underneath the oncoming truck’s tires fill the hollow void of the night.
Cars are just one of the rapidly changing platforms we’re thinking about at Carrot Creative. Get in touch if you’re interested in exploring the intersection of Creativity and Technology.
