On January 10, 2017, my new book, “Epiphany Z – Eight Radical Visions for Transforming Your Future“ was officially released in bookstores all around the world. Here are a few excerpts from the book where I discuss the concept of “future self.”
Being a Futurist is far more than just making predictions. It involves digging deep into the nature of humanity to better understand who we are and why we do the things that we do.
So what kind of relationship do you have with your future self?
Ford’s new “Autolivery” van concept has a terrible name, but is actually based on interesting core ideas. The van is yet another result of Ford’s fruitful “last mile mobility” internal employee challenge, and this one pairs an electric self-driving van with autonomous drones that nest within to help transport packages that last few feet to a customer’s door.
Tesla’s software timeline to fully autonomous driving on its new Autopilot hardware can be somewhat complicated. There’s ‘Enhanced Autopilot’, which in itself offers several different features, and there’s ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’, which despite its name will not enable self-driving for a while, but could still be useful to Tesla drivers very soon.
Investment in autonomous vehicle technology entered overdrive in 2016, and 2017 is gearing up for more of the same. In the last six months of 2016, the first public self-driving taxi service hit Singapore roads, courtesy of NuTonomy, while Uber followed suit a month later in Pittsburgh. The question of self-driving cars becoming a reality on roads around the world is no longer an “if,” it’s a big fat “when.”
Continue reading… “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
Singapore’s shipping ports are already among the busiest and most efficient in the world. Now the city-state is exploring a new way to make them run even better: convoys of driverless trucks operating between terminals. The idea is that a lead truck will be driven by a human, with the follower vehicles being automated.
Continue reading… “Self-driving trucks to haul cargo between shipping terminals in Singapore”
Half of today’s car owners will not want to own a vehicle and more and more will want self-driving and electric cars in future, a survey of car manufacturing bosses has found. As fewer people see the need to buy a car, a majority of automotive executives believe the industry will increasingly focus on making money from peripheral digital services to be used with their vehicles.
Continue reading… “Fewer car owners and more driverless vehicles in future”
BMW unveiled a concept for the interior of driverless cars on Wednesday at a press conference in Las Vegas at CES. The concept, dubbed the BMWi Inside Future, showcases how BMW envisions its autonomous vehicles may look when they start to hit the market. The interior concept is centered on connectivity and includes a panoramic display that can be operated just like a touchscreen — except physical contact isn’t necessary.
Continue reading… “BMW unveils futuristic concept for the interior of its driverless cars”
Commuting isn’t fit for today’s or tomorrow’s workforce—it’s time for a people-centric upgrade.
Continue reading… “People will look forward to daily commuting in the future”
For the last few months, Uber’s self-driving cars have been prowling the streets of San Francisco, forecasting the inevitable moment when the ride-hailing giant starts inviting passengers to take autonomous trips in the city where it first launched over seven years ago. That moment has finally arrived.
Continue reading… “Starting today, you can hail a self-driving Uber”
Dietmar Exler, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, believes that driverless cars are likely to be ‘bullied’ by human drivers when the two are sharing road space.
Continue reading… “Mercedes chief warns that humans ‘will bully robot cars’”
In the early morning hours of October 20th, an 18-wheeler tractor trailer pulled into Colorado Springs, Colorado, bearing 50,000 frosty cans of Budweiser beer. Normally, this would not be a noteworthy occurrence, but this truck was driving itself, marking the first time that commercial cargo was shipped by a self-driving vehicle.
Continue reading… “Uber’s self-driving truck company just shipped 50,000 cans of Budweiser”
What will Iowa’s farms look like when the combines and tractors drive themselves?
How will Des Moines’ banking and insurance sectors fare when supercomputers run financial markets?
Where will Iowans live when a self-driving car can take them anywhere with the tap of a smartphone?
These are the kind of questions Thomas Frey ponders.
Continue reading… “Futurist Thomas Frey predicts farming drones, driverless streets”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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