RoverUno Reloaded (Part I)

Chances are you will enjoy this story.

Of course we were caught in the self-driving and autonomous car driving hype, the same as you.

We were not only hungry to read and consume information about the latest developments in the self-driving car race, but also we were constantly thinking about how could looks like the automobile of the near future.

So, we started to play with that hot topic.

I will never forget the time when happened, I was watching carefully a Mazda CX7 in my parking lot, building up a mental imagine of the evolution

of the cars through the history and trying to determine the future evolution.

Then, suddenly we realized that the side view mirrors were so last century and were absolutely out of touch even for the beautiful machine I was witnessing.

Just from the aerodynamic point of view, having side view mirrors in the XXI century makes not sense.

From that point, every time I see a car with side view mirrors I feel like the astrophysics who when watching the stars knows very well that is watching the star like was in the past, not like is in the present.

Later on, the same type of logic that help us to conclude that replace the side view mirrors using the electronics and computing power available today shouldn’t be a big deal (I know, I know, aside of regulators), was the same logic that help us to conclude that even windshields were not longer necessary for the cars of the future, same for the airplanes of the near future (certainly, this one is a pretty big deal).

A high resolution screen feeding with fast and reliable computer power could provide a better information for navigating the road ahead for human drivers, and for AI agents? Well is the only option.

On another hand, you will have now enough space to place all types of sensors on the former windshield, which will eventually become a beautiful shield full of electronics, not to mention a nice canvas for art which will allow to customize the vehicle.

Additionally, not having windshield will increase the safety factor dramatically.

Now, having a high definition screen to drive your car and no requiring a windshield anymore, allows you the option to drive your car from wherever seat you want, you are not restricted to be in the front seat anymore, even more, eventually you would be able to drive your car remotely from the comfort of your house (which is not part of the self-driving or autonomous driving category, is a different category).

Now was time to have some fun, so we start modeling a prototype in 3D using Sketchup.

Sooner we concluded that perhaps some of the most comfortable devices for welfare travel invented by human kind, were horse carriages and luxury helicopters.

Horse carriage are so beautiful and well designed, very romantic as well and so close to our concept, imagine replacing the horses for electric motors in each wheel and placing the human pilot inside the carriage with a screen and a joystick.

Finally, we decided to choose a Super-Puma helicopter in order to modify it and create our RoverUno version one.

To be continued…