How autonomous transport systems will function will stretch the human imagination, says Simon Caspersen, co-founder of IKEA’s Innovation Lab, Space10. “The day fully autonomous vehicles hit our streets is the day cars are not cars anymore. They can be anything,” Caspersen told Dezeen magazine. “The primary function of transportation disappears to give rise to other functions. It could be an extension of our homes or our offices or our local cafe.”
The concept of car ownership itself is under threat in a world dominated by autonomous vehicles. The line separating public and private transport will blur. Stanford University lecturer Tony Seba believes personal mobility will go down the same route as other industries, from music to news, by moving to a subscription model he calls “Transport as a Service” (TaaS).