And why do self-driving cars have all their seats pointing forward?
Answer: because thats how it is.
Until now, electric cars and self-driving vehicles have been novelties.
Amazon
Theyre experimental flavors of regular, human-steered, gas-powered vehicles.
But it may take a while to get there.
After all, it’s one thing buying an electric car, but another keeping it charged.
Amazon
Lets check out a few of these radical new designs.
Throwback Tech
Do you remember the Johnny Cab robot taxi from the movieTotal Recall?
There would be no manual controls, so passengers could sit facing each other.
Didi Chuxing / BYD
And what about electric cars?
Gas vehicles are huge and heavy because they can be.
Gas is an extremely efficient way to store energy.
Pound for pound, a gas tank can carry way more energy than batteries.
In this light, putting an electric engine inside a behemoth designed for gas seems absurd.
A Tesla isevery bit as big and heavyas a regular car.
It makes way more sense to design small, lightweight cars for electric power.
Two-seaters instead of four, and without all those cup holders.
Amazons Zoox is a cute little carriage-style car, with four seats that face each other.
And this small design doesnt compromise safety either.
Those measures include a special airbag design to suit a bi-directional vehicle.
The D1 is driven by a human, but thevehicle itselfis optimized for carrying passengers.
There are also plenty of electronic gizmos for billing and mapping.
Were already seeing little electric-assisted, pedal-powered delivery vehicles in cities.
