Autopia
The Future of Cars
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Cars are one of the most significant human creations. They changed our cities. They changed our lives. They changed everything. But in the next thirty years, this technology will itself change enormously. If Google get their way, are we all going to be ferried around in tiny electric bubble-cars? Or will we watch robots race a bionic Lewis Hamilton? And what about the future of classic cars? In Autopia, presenter of The Gadget Show and former executive producer of Top Gear Jon Bentley celebrates motoring's rich heritage and meets the engineers (and coders) who are transforming cars forever. From mobile hotel rooms to electric battery technology; from hydrogen-powered cars to jetpacks, Autopia is the essential guide to the future of our greatest invention. Fully designed with illustrations and photographs, this will be the perfect Christmas gift for car and technology enthusiasts everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"It's time for the car industry to catch up" to the world's rapid technological advances, advises Bentley, former executive producer of Top Gear, in his uneven debut. He opens with a section on "Why the Car Matters," in which he declares "the car has been an extraordinary global success story, extending its influence over most of the planet and transforming vast tranches of human life" and explores the "most talked about and most ambitious" prediction for cars' future the self-driving (or autonomous) vehicle. This is the focus of his survey, and Bentley highlights the technical challenges of creating artificial intelligence and explains the complexity of AI processes such as deep learning. The chapter "Sparking Innovation" explores alternative power sources, both the familiar (electricity) and obscure (compressed air), and the final chapter, "The Future of the Past," asks what will happen to collectible cars; Bentley fears they'll be banned due to inefficiency. While the author's appreciation of automobiles comes through, the text leans toward the specialist, as with a numbers-heavy review of hybrid efficiencies and a survey of concept car shapes that references a slew of specific models. Car nuts eager for the arrival of autonomous vehicles should give this a look.
Customer Reviews
A European version of the automotive industry
It’s very straightforward on its purpose. Evaluation of the future on where we are going with the car invention.