“In 30 years we will no longer have our own cars. We will move on robo-taxis that will take us everywhere. Small, electric, safe. Nobody will put themselves in danger by driving a vehicle anymore. Our grandchildren may not even get a driver’s license. We will have more free time, less pollution. We will have cities suitable for pedestrians and electric bicycles. And I’m happy to do my little part “: Sergio Savaresi, professor in the department of ElectronicsInformation and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano, has no doubts.
Within 30 years this will be the next-big-thing. The fully self-driving car will be the disruptive technology that will completely change the world of cars. Savaresi founded one of the largest and most advanced research groups on vehicle automation in the world. With 100 people, including teachers, engineers and researchersanalyzes data, programs artificial intelligences, algorithms, software and sensors that he will put into driving a car.
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At CES in Las Vegas in January 2022, won the Indy Autonomous Challenge, the first competition for self-driving, unmanned racing cars: “This is a historic achievement for the development and future of self-driving cars”. In April, NASA allowed him to use the former shuttle landing strip at Cape Canaveral to set a new all-time speed record for an autonomous car. His car reached 310 km / h: “It’s not a show. We do it to learn and then to transfer what we learn to the world of production cars ”.
Interviewing Savaresi is like taking a trip into the future and seeing the place where we will live in 20 or maybe 30 years: “We are working for a more beautiful world, with fewer cars on the road and parked on the sidewalks. And it won’t happen thanks to the electric. What will really change the scenario we live in are two other factors. The first is the shift from one-car-based mobility to shared-car-based mobility. Si chiama Mobility as a Service. It will be a kind of public transport. Similar to the car sharing that we already know in big cities, but which still does not work well, because it costs too much and its diffusion is not so widespread “.
Again: “This step will be favored and catalyzed by the technology of the self-driving car. We will ride on robo-taxis that they will pick us up from the house and take us everywhere. It will be cheaper than a taxi ride and with almost no risk of accidents. The driverless car does not get distracted, it does not drive while intoxicated, it does not see only to one side as the human eye does, it has immediate reaction times. These machines will not be never stopped in parking lots, but they will continue to move. Yet there will be a tenth of the cars around today ”.
Let’s start with the data: “On our roads today 40 million cars run. In 95% of cases it is a functional use: I use the car because I need it to go to work or to go to the beach. In all these cases we will use robot-driven cars. It will remain a niche of emotional cars: someone will buy and rent a car for pleasure, not just Ferrari or Lamborghinibut maybe even a 500 Abarth with which to take a lap on the track ”.
Only when “mobility in service” is achieved, then you can switch to the electric car, which is not particularly suitable for private use. Once again, it is the data that says why: “Every day we drive an average of 50 kilometers. But we are looking for cars with a 500km battery that we will never use and that we don’t know where to charge. Only 20-25% of private cars it really lends itself to being electric (result extrapolated from UnipolTech data) “. Again: “With the unmanned car, Mobility as a Service will spread and only at that point will mass electrification arrive. It will take 20 to 30 years to complete this cycle. In some places this revolution will happen sooner, in others later. There are those who push to accelerate, others to brake. Behind there are enormous interests, because there are those who win and there are those who lose ”.
Elon Musk he said that the fully autonomous car would arrive in 2020: “This year he told me they were wrong and they were too optimistic. According to him, in 2 years we will have it. Others say it will take 10-15 years. The truth is that nobody knows ”. This because “in between there are also regulatory aspects: some countries may decide to accelerate and encourage the adoption of this technology more quickly by taking some risks. Others may slow down. There could be a more or less rapid acceptance by the population ”.
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Great expert on the subject, Savaresi has combined his passions: one for vehicles and one for automation and is writing an important chapter in the development of autonomous driving. Two degrees (the first in Electronic Engineering, the second in Mathematics), a PhD in Automation Engineering, consulting experiences at McKinsey, then a quick academic career: he became full professor at 36. He deals with indirect technology transfer (i.e. he collaborates with large companies such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Dallara, Ducati, Brembo, Pirelli and others) and direct, that is, it creates innovations and patents which then become companies. With his team he built an electric motor for bikes that self-recharges, from which a company was born, Zehus, which has been present on the ebike market for years. Again: Blubrake, an ABS for ebike, and also Yepa delivery robot that is already being tested on the streets of Milan.
“Digital players such as Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, Huawei and many others, because it is a technology made up of algorithms, software, sensors, electronics ”. And what will the future of motorcycles and bicycles be? “The motorcycle is today largely an entertainment and emotional object, and will remain so. It lends itself little to sharing and automation. Above all, we are working to use automation technologies to increase safety, a real limitation that still has this beautiful type of vehicle ”. The world of electric bicycles, on the other hand, is what he will see greater growth prospects: “Precious, expensive items that for years have surpassed motorbikes in sales and will continue to do so. In this new world there will be more space for what is called active mobility or soft mobility: it mixes very low environmental impact with a little physical activity ”.
As for young innovators, this is Savaresi’s advice for them: “You can innovate in many directions, but what matters is always doing the right thing. We must all do our small part to help make the world a better place. Difficulties, disappointments and problems will try to stop us, but when you aim for the good of all and not only in an economic interest is the motivation to overcome them. And writing a little piece of history is a huge satisfaction “.