I had a friend ask me about concept cars, along the lines of why make a concept? Do they even drive? I want to explore the many reasons why concepts are great things, even if they never come to light.
First, what is a concept? Let's use the example of cars.
BMW just showed off their new concept car, the Vision Next 100, at a show in Europe, maybe Geneva? It doesn't matter, but it was pretty fantastic. The steering was re-imagined completely. The materials used for the car body were unseen before. Here's a GIF of the car.
So assuming you watched the GIF in the link, it's impressive. The body of the car adjusts itself as the wheel is turned. The steering wheel (thing?) retracts itself after you pet it (I assume turn it off) but all of this still begs the question, why?
The point isn't to see this car driving on the road in a few years. It's fairly likely this car will never see the inside of your average person's, or local millionaire's garage. The point is to give the engineer's and designers at BMW, or any company, full control of creating an engineering marvel, and seeing what comes from it. In this case, you have to assume a lot, like a lot of creative problem solving and new technology was used to create the outcome.
UHHHHHH Jay, you still haven't given a reason to why someone would spend all this money on a car that isn't meant for driving.
Ok, ok, stay with me.
Remember all that new tech that was developed to create the concept car? Well, it might not be feasible to throw it in next years Ford Focus, or even 300 Series BMW. But in 5 to 10 years, when that technology is a cheaper, and more available, bits and pieces will trickle their way down to your average car. What I'm saying is, this tech is meant to push the boundaries we have today and drive the advancements of tomorrow. This particular BMW concept is extreme, as you can understand from the name, this looks way into the future (vision of the next 100 years) but there are concepts always being developed for use in a much tighter time frame.
For example, At another (or the same) auto show, Bugatti unveiled their new car, the Chiron. It's pretty fantastic as well, but it's actually meant to drive... fast. It's meant to push the boundaries of performance today. But that's a 2 million dollar car! No average person can afford, or even unleash that car's full performance. No, again, they aren't meant to. Sure, the richest of the rich will have a blast rocketing themselves to 420 km/h on a track slightly freaking the **** out at the pure speed of that monster W16, 1500 hp motor (and those are just estimates of performance). But for us less fortunate to experience that thrill, all the tech and engineering that goes into a car such as the Chiron, will trickle down to 'normal' cars in a much quicker time frame than the BMW concept. Again, not saying your next VW will be reaching 400 km/h, but aerodynamic design, engine performance and efficiency, and all the other things learned from the Chiron will most definitely see the light of day relatively soon. And that's exciting.
Car's aren't the only thing that the principle of 'concept' applies to. Look at smartphones.
You have the premium smartphones like the newest Samsung Galaxies and LG G phones, or, um.. *cough* iphones *cough* that use state of the art electronics, which of course you pay the premium cost for. But tech from the state of the art phones of 3 to 5 years ago, which is still very capable tech, now are used for entry level smartphones today, which maybe can't take the amazing pictures or run the 3-D games perfectly, but definitely handle day to day smartphone activities for a fraction of the price.
As humans, we are hardwired for innovation. If something can be better, we want to make it better, make our lives easier, and make us happier. I'm a strong believer that technology can do that, and the only way to ensure that constant innovation is to break the barriers. Concepts do that for us. They allow us to make things we never thought were possible.
Until next time,
J
First, what is a concept? Let's use the example of cars.
BMW just showed off their new concept car, the Vision Next 100, at a show in Europe, maybe Geneva? It doesn't matter, but it was pretty fantastic. The steering was re-imagined completely. The materials used for the car body were unseen before. Here's a GIF of the car.
So assuming you watched the GIF in the link, it's impressive. The body of the car adjusts itself as the wheel is turned. The steering wheel (thing?) retracts itself after you pet it (I assume turn it off) but all of this still begs the question, why?
The point isn't to see this car driving on the road in a few years. It's fairly likely this car will never see the inside of your average person's, or local millionaire's garage. The point is to give the engineer's and designers at BMW, or any company, full control of creating an engineering marvel, and seeing what comes from it. In this case, you have to assume a lot, like a lot of creative problem solving and new technology was used to create the outcome.
UHHHHHH Jay, you still haven't given a reason to why someone would spend all this money on a car that isn't meant for driving.
Ok, ok, stay with me.
Remember all that new tech that was developed to create the concept car? Well, it might not be feasible to throw it in next years Ford Focus, or even 300 Series BMW. But in 5 to 10 years, when that technology is a cheaper, and more available, bits and pieces will trickle their way down to your average car. What I'm saying is, this tech is meant to push the boundaries we have today and drive the advancements of tomorrow. This particular BMW concept is extreme, as you can understand from the name, this looks way into the future (vision of the next 100 years) but there are concepts always being developed for use in a much tighter time frame.
For example, At another (or the same) auto show, Bugatti unveiled their new car, the Chiron. It's pretty fantastic as well, but it's actually meant to drive... fast. It's meant to push the boundaries of performance today. But that's a 2 million dollar car! No average person can afford, or even unleash that car's full performance. No, again, they aren't meant to. Sure, the richest of the rich will have a blast rocketing themselves to 420 km/h on a track slightly freaking the **** out at the pure speed of that monster W16, 1500 hp motor (and those are just estimates of performance). But for us less fortunate to experience that thrill, all the tech and engineering that goes into a car such as the Chiron, will trickle down to 'normal' cars in a much quicker time frame than the BMW concept. Again, not saying your next VW will be reaching 400 km/h, but aerodynamic design, engine performance and efficiency, and all the other things learned from the Chiron will most definitely see the light of day relatively soon. And that's exciting.
Car's aren't the only thing that the principle of 'concept' applies to. Look at smartphones.
You have the premium smartphones like the newest Samsung Galaxies and LG G phones, or, um.. *cough* iphones *cough* that use state of the art electronics, which of course you pay the premium cost for. But tech from the state of the art phones of 3 to 5 years ago, which is still very capable tech, now are used for entry level smartphones today, which maybe can't take the amazing pictures or run the 3-D games perfectly, but definitely handle day to day smartphone activities for a fraction of the price.
As humans, we are hardwired for innovation. If something can be better, we want to make it better, make our lives easier, and make us happier. I'm a strong believer that technology can do that, and the only way to ensure that constant innovation is to break the barriers. Concepts do that for us. They allow us to make things we never thought were possible.
Until next time,
J
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