Hypermotion 2018: Alternative cars show presence

Not only did the number of startups triple, but classic car manufacturers also came in greater numbers to the second edition of Hypermotion and presented their alternatively powered innovations. Jens Schulz, Sales Director of Mitsubishi Motors Germany, captured the mood of the industry: It’s like with a ketchup bottle - nothing comes out at first, and then suddenly a lot. This is how he characterized the sales figures of the Outlander PHEV, which the brand with the diamonds currently can’t deliver quickly enough. Right next to it, Jaguar Land Rover once again showcased the I-Pace, which still belongs to the eyecatchers and also shows increasing delivery times: The cat is sold out for this year, and orders for next year are being accepted. Opposite, Kia Motors positioned the Kona Plug-In Hybrid as a taxi, which also attracted many visitors, although it was admitted that the new all-electric Kona would have generated even more interest. By the way, almost directly behind Hall 5 is the Kia Germany headquarters, so was the car driven directly into the hall? No, this model came from Darmstadt but received great interest.

Car missing? Program an alarm via geofencing

Directly opposite, however, stood a Porsche 911 F model, built before 1973 – and not electrified, but equipped with Vodafone's Black Box as theft protection, as Christos Dimakopoulos explains, but Vodafone's automotive department can do much more: Fleet managers can now capture all driving data and program alarms via geofencing in case the car leaves a predefined area. Additionally, it is possible to monitor how economically or properly users handle the car. No wonder that Vodafone also supplies the box as a tier-one supplier to all new Porsches, where it can be activated for a fee. And indeed, more and more customers are using this service for their fleets.

The Mini next to it was converted into a “diagnostic room” by PLRI: Sensors measure breathing and pulse rates, and the Mini offers ECG, an EDA sensor, or measures the breathing rate. All this was developed at PLRI, the Peter L. Reichert Institute for Medical Informatics, which cooperates with TU Braunschweig. Hoang Pi Leh, Master of Science, who presented all the details, is already thinking about future applications: One could receive discounts from health insurance or insurance companies or allow sick drivers to drive again as long as they agree to be “monitored.”

Or you can simply put them in Siemens' autonomous experimental vehicle "ILO," which was parked at the center of the stand: Meanwhile, the Munich-based company now has three autonomous Ilos in operation at their test site in Munich-Perlach, while a fourth is currently making rounds in Singapore. Siemens is focusing less on the car itself and more on the V2X communication, which they want to improve the traffic systems for. Special attention is being paid to future "mixed traffic" scenarios involving “seeing” and “non-seeing” cars - in this case, the Car2Car or Vehicle2X communication must also recognize older vehicles that are not autonomous or semi-autonomous. According to mobility engineer David Bitzl, they were particularly surprised by the "shadowing" of numerous objects, which is why ILO was equipped not only with the usual camera and sensor system and GPS data but also an RTLS set. ILO is also interesting as a sharing concept that can be in operation around the clock 24/7 to transport people.

What does that mean?

Even if Hypermotion is no longer an automobile trade fair, and does not want to be: It embeds the "mobile" hardware into a suitable "software" environment, which is becoming increasingly important. Is a Jaguar I-Pace too expensive? You will probably be able to book it soon in a sharing scheme as well. Or you can simply get into a taxi and ride along. That already exists: For example, in Munich. Cars? Yes, we can arrange those for you too, says Florian Fröhlich from the consulting company mobileeee. But that's not so important; what matters more is that the framework in the fleet matches and the infrastructure is in place. Then the vehicle will come, just as desired. No doubt, with so many good ideas, it's only a matter of "real" time when the lid on the ketchup bottle will pop. Maybe it has already happened? The abundance of creative business ideas at Hypermotion certainly suggests so.