Self-Driving Cars Might Just Transform the Way We Work
The head of BMW Group Designworks steered his car into a rest stop, highway traffic whizzing by in the background, and then dialed into his meeting. “I can’t concentrate on driving if I’m talking," says Holger Hampf, whose unit is internally known as “architects of the future." This pit stop, he says, happens to be an excellent example of what will change in the future. One day when cars can eventually drive themselves, executives will be able to sit back and work just as if they were in the office.
As automated driving gets closer to reality, car designers and technology companies are giving more thought to what people might actually do in their cars when they no longer have to drive them—including how they may use them to work. Over the past few years, automakers like BMW have been rolling out what they call concept cars—prototypes of vehicles still in design stages that may or may not ever hit the road—with self-driving attributes such as no steering wheel and huge screens for watching videos and PowerPoints where the windshield used to be. “For us, the cars that will come out in 2030 are on the drawing board now," Hampf says.
Even with the rise of Zoom meetings, it’s important for executives to get in-person face time with customers and employees. That means executives will still be on the road a lot and eager for new ways to be productive in their cars. If you didn’t believe the hype about autonomous vehicles over the past few years, you were in good company.
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