the next big thing
I am not in thrall to the driverless car. Yes, I fully get the argument that the vast majority of accidents are caused by ‘user-error’ but my simple solution would be to encourage better driving by removing all distractions, implement a rigorous programme of re-testing (age and incident dependent), put in place a non-negotiable ‘end-date’ (there is already a non-negotiable start-date) and enforce penalties more vociferously. Call me ‘old-fashioned’ but I want both hands on my steering wheel.
Notwithstanding my reticence, the likes of Google, Apple and PayPal’s Elon Musk’s Tesla are all pushing ahead unabated in their usual ‘land-grab’ style and, rumour has it, many millions of miles have been driven with only a handful of prangs, and most of those are still the preserve of the accompanying human. Doh. However, recent predictions have highlighted the real-world fact that these companies don’t have the supply-chains necessary to take on the traditional car manufacturers, and it’s more likely the Fords, General Motors and Hondas of this world that will make this concept a reality. Realising this, Uber have thrown in their lot with Volvo and Google with Fiat Chrysler. Surprisingly, the largest manufacturer of electric cars remains Renault-Nissan.
Over the last couple of decades, the US tech industry has undeniably revolutionised the way we see the world and the manner in which we buy & sell goods and services, communicate, consume news, meet people, watch TV, entertain, bank, eat and exercise. So what’s next, what do they have in store for us in the near future? Well, on a practical level, it would appear not a lot. And no, don’t get me started on Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri…
Wacky Musk has active forays into high-speed train travel (pods in a tube travelling at over 750 mph) and space travel targeted at establishing life on Mars. Google’s entrepreneur/scientist Astro Teller (I kid you not) has established Project Loon (no, really) and aims to establish a global internet network of stratospheric balloons, whilst his Project Wing seeks to pioneer self-flying delivery vehicles. Google X’s most ‘successful’ product remains the infamous, fatuous and completely flopped, Google Glass.
For several years the talk has been of the ‘internet of things’ where everyday objects of constant use were magically networked and communicated intelligently. Fridges that told you when the milk was running-out so you could then inform Alexa to put it on your next Ocado shopping list. Your Tesla knowing it needed a recharge and booking itself into the local garage for a friendly fettle. Netflix automatically filling up the hard drive with the latest American box-set dross you’ll never free-up enough time to watch. Last year saw organised hackers taking charge of a huge number of such devices and turned their ire on Twitter’s website. Poacher turned gamekeeper. Roads are more difficult than purpose-built race tracks. A home more tricky than a laboratory. A body more complex than a test-tube. To my mind, the tech world currently looks all a bit washed-up.
Mind, there is one recent technical development that does present a world-changing premise, that of the large-scale manufacture of graphene. One million times thinner than a human hair, two hundred times stronger than steel, it would take an elephant balanced on the nib of a sharpened pencil to break through a sheet of the miracle material the thickness of cling-film! Graphene, a form of graphite reduced to pure carbon atoms, is the most stretchable, most permeable and most conductive of materials, and is set to revolutionise the 21st century.
Discovered by the egg-heads at Manchester University in 2004, graphene, at $100 per gram, remains prohibitively expensive and consequently it’s yet to find a ‘killer app’ to establish itself commercially in a mainstream manner. However, as the price of production continues to fall, it is only a matter of time before this changes. Combined with plastics, metals or carbon fibre it’s qualities will revolutionise building and manufacturing; mix it with silicon and it’s use in tech will be unprecedented; bio-and-nano-tech could become unrecognisable. Sport, often an early-adopter of products that provide competitive advantage, is starting to deploy graphene-enhanced products and in a few weeks you’ll be watching Novak Djokovic swatting away a surly scot with a graphene shafted racquet. Game on.
