Futurist Mark Pesce, Along with Designer Sally Dominguez Explain: THE NEXT BILLION CARS
10 Episode Series Launches Today in Australia and America
Beverly Hills, CA – February 13, 2019 – The automotive industry manufactures two cars a second. Never have so many had access to motorized transportation. Over the next fifteen years – the time it takes to build THE NEXT BILLION CARS – the expectations of the automobile and the experience it provides will transform completely. Hosted by futurist Mark Pesce, of the award winning THE NEXT BILLION SECONDS podcast, along with noted innovator and Wheels Car of the Year judge Sally Dominguez, and special correspondent auto industry insider Drew Smith, THE NEXT BILLION CARS, launching on PodcastOne today, surveys the landscape of electrification, autonomy, mobility — and an automotive future that looks nearly nothing like the past.
Across ten episodes THE NEXT BILLION CARS listeners will learn how the entire automotive experience from design to manufacturing to sales to ownership to driving will change from a mode that’s been pretty static for the last 100 years into something radically different.
MARK PESCE
Mark Pesce is an American born and raised futurist, inventor, writer, entrepreneur, educator and podcaster. In 1994 Pesce co-invented VRML, a 3D interface to the Web. Pesce was a seven-season judge on Australia’s version of Shark Tank, The New Inventors, celebrating Australia’s newest inventions, and writes an award-winning column for global tech publication The Register. Pesce hosts two podcasts: This Week in Startups Australia; and The Next Billion Seconds – winner of Australia’s Best Technical and Scientific Podcast of 2018 – offering a window into the world of tomorrow. He has written six books, and founded graduate programs at both the University of Southern California and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, holding appointments as Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and Honorary Adjunct at the University of Technology Sydney.
SALLY DOMINGUEZ
Sally is a multi-award-winning product designer and architect of the Adventurous Thinking innovation strategy which she has implemented at organizations including NASA, Stanford and Breville. Sally was a judge on The New Inventors, is a co-host on Foxtel’s upcoming Great Aussie Inventions, host of a yet-to-be-named Foxtel Innovation Challenge, and judges design and innovation competitions internationally. She has over ten years of Car of the Year judging experience with Wheels magazine and Drive and is passionate about innovation in materials, sustainability and transportation strategies.
DREW SMITH
With a background in automotive design and design research, and a role as a lead strategist at one of the industry’s most exciting brands, Drew is the consummate industry insider. Indeed, he’s helped shape the future for the likes of Lexus, Jaguar Land Rover, and Audi. He’s not without critical faculties however, and has long held the industry to a higher standard when it comes to designing for environmental and commercial sustainability. He is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, advising automotive design Masters and PhD students, and founded the Automobility Group, a global community exploring the future of urbanism, design and mobility. He is also the co-founder of Rising Minds, an international lecture series that explores the intersection of technology, business and culture.
EPISODES // PRECIS & AIR DATES
I. THE NEXT BILLION PROBLEMS // DISRUPTION IN AUTOLAND
AIR DATE: FEBRUARY 13, 2019
When cars are electrified and autonomous – driving themselves, perhaps even owning themselves – will we need as many automobiles? Is the auto industry kicking the can on the enormous challenges it faces as it manufactures the next billion cars? Will these be the last billion cars?
II. THE NEXT BILLION ROBOTS // AUTONOMY AND TRANSFORMATION<br/>SCHEDULED AIR DATE: FEBRUARY 27, 2019
Autonomous vehicles are the hot topic right now – will we have self-driving cars? When? And what sorts of technologies will we need to have nailed down before the average car-owner feels safe in a car that’s thinking for itself?
III. THE NEXT BILLION VOLTS // POWER, BATTERIES AND ELECTRIFICATION
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: MARCH 13, 2019
All of the new power sources, power trails — framed by Sally’s story of driving a hydrogen-powered automobile across China.
IV. THE NEXT BILLION MILES // THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CAR
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: MARCH 27, 2019
Driverless tech means a complete rethink of interior packaging. Volvo has already played with a spinning baby seat in the front passenger for tending by rear adults, Prius showed a concept car with a reclining bike in the front seat…Will we bring our exercise equipment into the car? Our offices? Our friends?
V. THE NEXT BILLION RPM // SPEED & PERFORMANCE
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: APRIL 10, 2019
Performance – what does it mean when the driver aids are taking care of your safety? It used to be that quick handling, great balance, etc. were part of active driver safety i.e. you could accelerate or swerve out of a situation. But if we don’t have drivers, we don’t have driver error so how much importance do we place on performance vs comfort, roominess, suspension etc. Does this mean a whole new definition for “performance” that is passenger oriented rather than driver oriented?
VI. THE NEXT BILLION PASSENGERS // MOBILITY AS A SERVICE
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: APRIL 24, 2019
The Uber app transformed the entire automotive industry, separating transportation from car ownership in a way that satisfies transportation needs. That presents a fundamental challenge to the automotive industry: they really only know how to sell product, and can’t quite grasp the concept of a service, let alone “service”.
VII. THE NEXT BILLION TONNES // REDEFINING “SCRAP”
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: MAY 8, 2019
We make around 70 million cars/year and we crush around 1 million hulks/year. The most toxic bioaccumulates left when all other materials are salvaged are slyly labeled as “fluff”. How’s the fluff pile look in the next billion cars? What advances in tech, upcycling and materials are being made to make the next billion cars harder/ faster/stronger in terms of their environmental impact?
VIII. THE NEXT BILLION DRIVERS//UTOPIA vs DYSTOPIA
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: MAY 22, 2019
A Mad Max reality between the uber highways of driverless cars, shared vehicles, and the byways full of all the beater cars that people can’t afford to give up. If beaters are not allowed on the highway and byways are no longer maintained as a priority, people who refuse or cannot afford to participate in new vehicle tech will have a huge aftermarket trade in rough wear tires, chunky suspension, maybe some armament…basically beefing up old petrol and diesel vehicles to make using byroads more manageable as they deteriorate.
IX. THE NEXT BILLION CARMAKERS
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: JUNE 5, 2019
Car manufacture is going fabless – where the design is entirely separate from manufacturing – and anyone can design their own automobile. Fabless displaces the traditional automobile workforce — and the customer’s responsibility becomes one of co-designer. Meanwhile, incumbents have perfected their approach to building safe, reliable cars at scale.
Extrapolating from Porsche and Bugatti’s experiments with 3D printed components and smart surfaces – consumers soon will be able to style any (brand specific) shape, with all the necessary controls for, say, electric windows, woven in.
X. THE NEXT BILLION BITS // THE CAR AS SOFTWARE
SCHEDULED AIR DATE: JUNE 19, 2019
Like our smartphones, will our cars – the software that makes them do what they’re going to do – be controlled by two large companies: Apple and Google? Increasingly that’s looking to be the case as the complexity of software proves to be beyond the scope of automobile manufacturers…
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