Future Car Ideas in the SXSW PanelPicker

The Forrest Four-Cast: August 26, 2017

SXSW PanelPicker voting has been extended until 11:59 pm PT on Sunday, August 27. So, you’ve got a few more hours to browse the 4000+ amazing speaking proposals in this year’s interface.

Ten of the most fun and forward-thinking ideas in the 2018 SXSW PanelPicker focus on the automobiles (and the other futuristic transportation systems) of tomorrow:

1. AI is Driving Design for Your Future Car: AI and Materials Informatics (MI) are unlocking a new world of material optimization and design on-the-fly, capable of matching an automotive designer’s vision and overcoming conventional manufacturing constraints. Designers can collaborate in real-time to sort through thousands of materials and fabrication options to remain true to their artistic vision.
2. Cutting the Cord on Car Ownership: The current shift in personal transportation is similar to what happened with TV and streamed content over the last 15 years. Today, there are significant challenges to cutting the car-ownership cord. What’s the answer? Data.
3. A Driverless Car is Just Another Robot! What if driverless cars really are robots at our service, running our errands, on their own and obeying orders while we are busy with other things. What new businesses will emerge?
4. The Emotional Life of Your Autonomous Car: The relationship we have with our cars is emotional. And it’s about to get more complicated. With the convergence of affective technology and artificial intelligence, emotional interactions with our vehicles will become the norm.
5. The Future of Car Design in an Autonomous World: We are now approaching a time when car design and technology can deliver multiple experiences to every passenger location in the car. Also, with the shared economy poised to grow 5x by 2025 the chance for car manufactures to find new ways to personalize each driving experience for the vehicle owner and each new passenger is rising.
6. How to Monetize the Connected Car: As automotive technology continues to evolve, so too does the possibility of monetizing these features to create an additional revenue source for OEMs and drivers alike.
7. How Uber Designs for the Future of Transportation: There are many hurdles to overcome, but as designers, our challenge is to create experiences that bring passengers along for the ride. This session will dive into what designers are doing to create a self-driving future that puts people first. The speaker for this solo presentation is Molly Nix, who is the Product Design Lead for Self-Driving Cars at Uber.
8. Revving Up: Testing for Safe Autonomous Vehicles: As the tech used in modern cars rapidly changes comes a massive increase in the testing burden to prove they’re safe enough to put our lives in their hands. This talk will discuss what it takes to deal with this evolving complexity & future-proof test systems & practices against whatever tech comes next.
9. Who Will Own Your Autonomous Car? Who will own the “smart” part of your smart car? Will people even want to own cars, or will they want a car-as-a-service? And what about aftermarket repairs and modifications? The battle lines are being drawn now.
10. The Vehicles of Today on the Roads of Tomorrow. Pioneer’s Ted Cardenas will discuss the vital role the aftermarket plays in the future of the self-driving world, including how advancements in technology will enable the cars of today to meet the needs of tomorrow.

If cars aren’t your thing, then use the search button at the top left corner of the SXSW PanelPicker voting interface to find topics you are most interested in. But do it soon, because the polls close on Sunday night!

Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.