A world of pods
and robots
What will the world of tomorrow look like? How will we live, communicate and commute? Renowned British futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson has some exciting ideas.
Will there continue to be individual transportation in the future and how will mobility develop in general?
© privateDr. Ian Pearson
Position: He is an author, a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, and has made more than 900 television and radio appearances. He is also a consultant, conference speaker, and campaign planner.
Background: Dr. Ian Pearson has degrees in Mathematics and Physics, with a PhD in Natural Science.
Expert in: He has worked as a futurologist for 31 years, tracking, forecasting and evaluating developments in technology, business, society, politics and the environment.
By 2030, I think we will start seeing the appearance of a lot of E-pod systems, especially in urban areas. These will be miniature, driverless e- vehicles for transporting people and goods over certain distances. They will be powered purely electrically and be fully automated. I’m talking about very lightweight, economical pods that will pick you up at your home, your office or wherever you are and drop you off exactly where you want to go. Then they will pick you up again and take you right back.
Will the car be the most appropriate vehicle for future mobility?
Not in the form that we use cars today. I think most people will use public transportation by means of these pods. If you can pick someone up from their home and they don‘t have to worry about parking and congestion, that is an advantage.
Which fuel or drive system could become established?
Fossil fuels will soon be gone. In the long term, it is probable that by 2040 or 2050, fusion energy will become mainstream. This will be cheaper than existing nuclear fission energy and a lot safer. These technologies will come into use in mobility and transport as well, likely becoming the most used fuel in these fields.
Which role is AI likely to play in this scenario?
I think a lot of the pod systems will be using AI-integrated infrastructure. They won‘t necessarily have to have separate AI for every single pod. The AI can reside in the cloud, on a remote server that is accessed by means of a mobile device. The other daily application of AI will be in robotics. Robots will be programmed to have different profiles based on who is interacting with them, and these profiles might be stored in the cloud and be activated based on the user. However, I don‘t think that robots will be replacing people in the future. Humans and robots will coexist.
How will we communicate in the future?
In the future, we won‘t communicate with one another via small 2D images on our phones or other devices, but instead we will use life-size 3D. However, that is not the near future. It‘s like 3D television. This has been launched several times and has failed every time. It might require a few more launches and rejections from the market. Perhaps, in more than 20 to 30 years, we will reach proper holographic 3D communication.
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