alice rawsthorn on the utopia vs. dystopia of our future self-driving car infrastructure

domus academy’s series of talks in milan titled ‘prototyping ideas – utopia’ explored the importance of design in our fabrication of modern society. world-renowned design critic alice rawsthorn opened up the discussion through the lens of driverless cars, siting both the advantages and disadvantages of this technological innovation.

designboom has followed this growing trend in more than 40 previous articles, ranging from patents for removable steering wheels to automated parking garages. we’ve highlighted projects from major tech companies like google and apple, and large automotive brands such as BMW, AUDI, tesla, volkswagen, and smart — all of which have proposed concept cars with a fully autonomous driving feature, and many to be released as early as 2020.

volkswagen’s ‘I.D.’ is a self-driving, zero emission, electric car said to go into production in 2020
see more about this project on designboom here

‘from a utopian perspective, these are fantastic,’ rawsthorn stated in her opening address at domus academy about driverless cars. ‘they will liberate us from one of the big bores of contemporary life, which is being trapped in congestion at the steering wheels. they will also save us from accidents caused by either drunk, careless, crazy, or just plain tired road users. they will help people with impaired vision and disabilities to be more mobile, and they will enable other drivers to be able to do enjoyable and productive things while they are not driving.’

the interior, void of many traditional car features, offers generous amounts of space

as early as 2014, google released the first prototype for a self-driving car. described as ‘self learning,’ the small two-seater contains integrated sensors that are able to detect multiple objects, simultaneously, as far as 720 feet away from the car in all directions. volkeswagen then premiered the ‘I.D.’ at the 2016 paris international motor show, emphasizing one of the company’s main priorities — creating zero-emission vehicles for a new automotive driverless era. more recently, smart announced its concept car, the vision EQ fortwo, that could potentially revitalize the brand’s existing, urban car-sharing program.

googles initial driverless, two-seater prototype was released in late 2014
see more about this project on designboom here

with these innovations becoming a more concrete reality, rawsthorn also discussed the potential disadvantages of this new technology. ‘first of all they will deny us, what for me is one of the great pleasures of life, which is driving at speed on an open road. they also run the risk of people losing their driving skills so they won’t be able to take the wheel and operate the car efficiently if the technology fails.’

for their autonomous driving vehicle, volkswagen revamped the iconic volkswagen bus launched in 1950
see more about this project on designboom here

rawsthorn speculates about the potential long-term impact of these vehicles. ‘they also, in an extreme case, expose us to the threat of driverless cars being highjacked by terrorists as a remote controlled explosive. then there is the broader socio-economic issue of what the implications will be of hundreds of thousands of drivers world-wide losing their jobs and for society in terms of disruption that it could cause and also to those people as individuals.’

smart’s vision EQ fortwo provides a new perspective on individualized, urban mobility and public transportation
see more about this project on designboom here

the solution, she devises, stems from the integration of the designer into the initial aspects of the technology’s development. the introduction of these vehicles would require a reinterpretation of all road, signage, safety, and pedestrian systems. rawsthorn concludes that ‘this new system is designed specifically from the outset rather than conditioning designers to approach it from an ad-hoc basis, which has caused so many problems not only for driving, but other aspects of daily life in the past.’

the EQ fortwo concept is a glimpse into the possible future of car sharing

the CES 2017 from crysler represents a current line of fully electric, semi autonomous vehicles
see more about this project on designboom here

facial recognition and voice biometrics will allow users to control interior settings

the ‘robocar’ is the first driverless, electric racecar was announced in 2015 and released in early 2017
see more about this project on designboom here

portrait of alice rawsthorn, renowned design critic and author 

domus academy’s ‘prototyping ideas – utopia‘ was the first of four design talks, and will be followed by ‘local’ on october 30, ‘nurture’ on january 15, 2018, and ‘waste’ on march 12, 2018. during the event, alice rawsthorn intervened as moderator and along with alexander groves, artist and co-founder of studio swine; peter lang, expert in italian radical design and architecture; and bruce sterling, futurist, science fiction writer. the group shared ideas and solutions with the public, who were be able to witness the talks about the future of design.