Chinese auto maker Chery likes to keep things local. It chose last year's Beijing Auto Show as the place to unveil its original (in more than one sense) Ant concept, and it's taken to Shanghai to show off the iAuto Ant 2.0.
Again, we don't know that much about the Ant 2.0 at this stage, but it still appears to be a two-seater EV which can couple together with other Ants on the road to form linked convoys.
The concept relies on the Ant's ability to detect other Ants nearby, which communicate to compare destinations. Ants heading the same way can form trains of up to ten vehicles, which is a more efficient way to travel which simultaneously makes life easier for drivers.
How Chery 2.0 builds, or materially changes, this concept is not precisely clear, but it appears as if the front section has been redesigned, which suggests a rethinking (and possible simplification) of the mechanics of the coupling.
Also clear from the display model is that Chery has ease of parking in mind, given the vehicle's doors which slide open parallel to the body. Inside are the obligatory smart-device docks for controlling and accessing the Ant's various systems and information.
Clearly, the Ant 2.0 lives up to its concept status, but does it point to a future paradigm of road transportation? Time will tell.
Linking the cars together mechanically allows them to be closer together which improves the aerodynamic efficiency removes the risk that a heavily laden car will "ram" a lightly laden car ahead of it in an emergency braking situation. And possibly most importantly makes it harder to disrupt communications between vehicles.
I think automated personal transport and alternative methods of mass transportation are hard to articulate in the form of a single vehicle. In the way that people turn to science fiction for examples of ideas I think video gaming is probably the best platform to demo such a system.
We already have several games with whole cities and traffic systems within them. Creating concepts of cities of the future I think would give dev studios an interesting platform for ideas to work with.
The hardware is there, if they built a game engine able to handle traffic scenarios at scale they could probably license it out to city planners or something too.
The necessary equipment to mechanically link the cars together weigh less than 150 pounds and with all the components having tires at all four corners there is no need for any special balance control.
The Google test vehicles are well maintained.
The lousy aerodynamics makes drafting more attractive not less even if at low speeds aerodynamics is unimportant.
And then is everyone going to have to stick with the same technology for years just in order to continue on this one concept? Doesn't that hinder innovation?
No, the problem is cultural, the car is a status symbol of freedom, expression of wealth, power and individualism. Who in his right mind would spend a hundred thousand dollars on a car? What on earth for would you need a 3 ton -200 mph - 4 wheel drive - monster tho take the kids to school around the corner?
Also cars are made by a multigazillion dollar industry which is perfectly happy with how things are now, because change costs money. Money that, at this moment is harder to come by because of the economical crisis we are supposed to be in.
Facts are on his side, not yours except his weight estimates are too high as coupling can be done easily in under 30 lbs front and back.
As for aero a box with rounded corners can be very good. google 'NASA aero truck tests' on the box truck they tested and easily reduced the CD to .25 better than 99% if cars.