A consortium comprising some of France’s most recognisable industrial giants has revealed a concept car promising to launch a “revolution in mobility” with 20 “concrete, operational” new technologies.
Established in 2021, Software République was founded by computing firms Atos and Dassault Systèmes, equipment supplier Thales, semiconductor maker ST Microelectronics, telecommunications giant Orange and the Renault Group.
Its aim is to create a European framework for the future of mobility, offering services from more than 50 start-ups in more than 50 markets in just two years’ time.
Its first concept car, the H1st Vision, is an apparent evolution of last year’s Renault Scenic Vision, adapted to demonstrate “human-centred” innovations in the mobility sphere. These aim to improve the convenience, safety and ownership experience of new cars.
Convenience
Chief among the H1st Vision’s innovations is biometric unlocking, which does away with a traditional key fob and uses your face, name, height and gait to register you as a user of your car.
Cameras in the door mirrors recognise your walk as you approach the vehicle from up to six metres away, while a unit in the B-pillar detects your face. If it detects one of the registered users of the car, it projects a greeting onto the rear window and asks if you would like to be let in. You saying 'yes' then unlocks the car and automatically adjusts the seating to your preferences.
The system, which stores all your information in a secure "digital ID wallet", will help to simplify car rental, sharing, and driving licence checks, claims Software Rèpublique.
Inside the H1st, a 16-speaker sound system allows each occupant to make a private phone call, playing the audio through speakers mounted in their headrest while cancelling its frequencies in the vicinity of all other passengers.
This same system is also used for the on-board safety systems. The collision warning system, for example, plays a sound through the speaker where the hazard is located and can play a sound to warn of an approaching emergency vehicle so you know to clear a path.
The H1st can also park remotely according to one of three programmes: Closest, which leaves the car as close to your destination as possible; Fastest, which also considers public transport and cycling options so you reach your destination sooner; and Economical, which gets you to your destination as cheaply as possible.
Once the car is parked, an automated chatbot can arrange and pay for services such as parking and charging. Once the car pays for the service, it automatically displays a receipt (such as a parking ticket) on the dashboard.
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Do car designers exist any more?
In the words of one of Catherine Tate's characters .. What a load of old sh*t.
I think it's now getting to the stage where I won't enjoy driving cars, the exterior is ok but the interior is as interesting as a month old BR Cheese Sandwich!, it's sterile, nothing in it I want to touch unless I have to and most of the actual driving done is by the Car and it's AI Brain, they might as well go the whole Hog and make fleets of self driving cars that you call on your App as and when you need transport, so that would be a monthly subscription or something, that would mean no Garages, glitzy show rooms, servicing costs etc,no I might hand my license in in ten years or so.
As for the self driving cars - yes, that's the future. Modern people have better things to do then spend days of their lives each year holding a steering wheel. You can hand your licence in at any time, really.
PS: it's normal to feel "the world is going mad" when you're old.
Yes, I do realise that, but some of the tech is, will replace the human element, and yes, some people dislike driving because maybe it's there job, and, will future generations look on transport a boring, White goods and an annoying necessity?, oh, age has nothing do with it.
Another if-it's-new-it's-obviously-better ignorant and presumptuous comment. Some of us like spending time holding a steering wheel. The age-related comment is particularly clueless.
Yes, it's a concept, a concept with some company with ideas they think we need to drive a car , how have we managed up to now, they may save a few more road fatality's but no accidents?, pure fantasy stuff.