Executive Speeches
18 August 2009
Mobility 2030: Transportation Technologies and Lifestyles of the Future
Toscan Bennett Opening Remarks
Thank you, John for that kind introduction.
My name is Toscan Bennett, and I oversee product strategy for Volkswagen of America.
It's a pleasure to be out here in San Francisco today – and not just because I'm escaping the summer heat and humidity in Washington, where our company is headquartered.
No, this event is exciting because it gets to the heart of what we do in product strategy: anticipating customers' needs, matching them with the latest technology and bringing to market the most advanced vehicles possible.
Oh, and of course, we're doing this on a timeline that looks 10-20 years down the road.
As you can imagine, this requires a tremendous amount of planning and forethought. It also requires that we listen – listen to customers, innovators, regulators, legislators….there are a myriad of audiences that help shape our view of the future.
And, that's why I'm glad to be here today -- because this symposium is designed to generate conversation and ideas.
The speakers today aren't here to tell you what the future may bring – we're here to listen to what you think the future should bring.
And, I for one, plan to take a lot of notes.
It goes without saying that San Francisco is the perfect location for this symposium.
There is perhaps no other city in the world so synonymous with innovation and forward thinking. It's one of the reasons that Volkswagen's Electronics Research Lab is just south of us in Palo Alto.
Our partnerships with leading universities in California such as Stanford, Berkeley and UC Riverside as well leading tech companies such as Intel, Google and Apple are helping us gather more and more data about the future. They are also helping us develop cars that use the latest technologies to meet our customers' needs and wants.
It's also an interesting time to be having this conversation.
The 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission to the moon last month served as a time for reflection for all of us involved in technology and mobility.
It reminded us that the impossible is infinitely possible.
A recent column in the Washington Post framed it this way, "After countless millennia of gazing and dreaming, we finally got off the ground at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Within 66 years, a nanosecond in human history, we'd landed on the moon."
Of course, for our purposes today, we're looking just 20 years out – I guess you could call that one-third of a nanosecond in human history.
A lot can happen in those years.
And, I'm convinced that we too have the potential to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Now, I promised that I wouldn't spend today talking about my vision of the automotive future.
Well, I wasn't exactly truthful on that front.
But, in my defense, any good brainstorming session needs a little inspiration.
So, I'd like to show a short video that paints one potential scenario for driving in the future. Let's take a look.
I'm not sure what is cooler – the concept car or the concept of never being in a traffic jam EVER again. Here in San Francisco, I'm sure the idea of never looking for a parking space was also particularly well received.
As we plan for the future, Volkswagen is focused on five key areas:
- Emissions free driving
- Cars as living spaces
- Networked mobility
- Accident free driving
- Personalization of cars
These five concepts track well with the things we know customers want in their vehicles. They want their car to be
- Safe
- Environmentally Responsible
- Efficient
- And, of course FUN
So, how specifically, does VW see this playing out in the future?
We've developed a few concept cars that help describe potential future driving scenarios.
Let's start with the ROOM. It's a car for the family, and it takes into account the amount of time spent in your car – and the possibilities for what you can do inside the vehicle.
Aside from driving…of course.
One of the first concepts applied to the ROOM is autonomous driving….in other words, cars that drive themselves.
Sound futuristic?
File it under making the impossible possible. Thanks to a partnership with Stanford, Volkswagen's SUV Touareg, fondly named Stanley, won the DARPA grand challenge for autonomous driving in 2005.
That technology is being applied to vehicles today in the form of blind spot assist and lane assist technologies. Our lane assist technology not only tells you that your vehicle has left the lane – through vibrations on the steering wheel – it will also steer back into the lane for you.
In the future, we see the real potential for a vehicle that can take this even further -- positioning itself automatically, making lane and speed changes and braking in emergency situations.
This opens up a lot of free time for the driver, which is helpful, because we also see the potential for vehicles to become more than just chauffeurs. We also see them as personal assistants.
Technology today is already integrating our mobile devices into our vehicles – from iPods and iPhones to navigation devices.
But, imagine a future where the car recognizes you as soon as you go near it. I'm not talking about the seat adjusting to your pre-settings when you put the key in the ignition.
This is technology where the car starts itself, downloads your schedule and provides the optimal routes to get to your meetings.
And to make it really cool, the navigation might be in 3D.
It can provide you a virtual tour of the best restaurants in town, and make a reservation based on your voice command.
And for my wife, it might also let her know that the Nordstrom along the way is having a sale on her favorite designer's shoes.
Cars of the future won't just be intuitive to our needs and wants.
They might also have a sixth sense when it comes to the environment in which they are traveling.
Our EGO concept, which you saw earlier in the video, epitomizes this scenario.
With the same technology used for autopilot, the EGO's radars, cameras, lasers and ultrasound sensors supply the car with a specific image of the vehicle's surroundings.
With this information, the vehicle can warn a driver in advance of a safety hazard – is that a rock on the road or a brown paper bag?
And, it can also tell the driver if another vehicle is in the blind spot.
Of course, this new technology could make rearview and sideview mirrors obsolete.
Instead, drivers might view their environment through an image projected on the windshield or a holographic display directly in their field of vision.
Drivers also want a vehicle that is environmentally responsible, and the EGO realizes zero emissions driving. It might be powered by a battery that draws its energy from a solar powered outlet in your garage.
And, for you driving enthusiasts out there – the electric engine can release full power from the first touch of the gas pedal, so you'll see a dramatic increase in driving dynamics.
I also mentioned that drivers long for efficiency.
By that I mean more than gas mileage, although that's a component. It's also about avoiding those traffic jams.
Networked cars – that talk to one another and to infrastructure and to emergency vehicles and public transportation – are the concept behind a traffic free future.
Our One concept takes this idea to the next level.
Consider this car the traffic assistant.
By integrating the information coming from these sources, it can tell the driver not just what route to use to avoid traffic, but also where there are open parking spaces and if there are dangerous road conditions ahead.
Much like the ABS and ESP technology of today, the One concept also vastly improves safety by sensing the conditions around you and helping you respond to them.
Volkswagen is using networking today – but in a different sense than car-to-car or car-to-infrastructure communication.
I mentioned earlier our partnerships with universities and tech companies in Northern California.
More than ever before – technology is inter-related.
And to be successful, we need to partner and network with industries outside our own.
That's why Siemens and CBM, the Chamber and other business organizations are involved in this event.
We are all learning from one another.
Touch screen technologies that revolutionized the PDA are now revolutionizing how we interface with our vehicles. Wireless and Internet technologies that revolutionized how we communicate are now changing how we interact with our vehicles.
So, as you brainstorm today, I encourage you to think broadly, not linearly.
Think about what you'd like a car to do, not necessarily what you think it can do.
Sure, 20 years is just one-third of a nanosecond in human history – but we'll accomplish a lot in that time.
Today's discussion will help lead the way, and I look forward to it.
Thank you.
