We live in a world that is increasingly connected all the time. Cisco calls this the Internet of Everything, which will generate $14 trillion in value over the next decade. The Upstate is poised to become a global leader in a specific aspect of the Internet of Everything – sustainable connected, multimodal transportation – if we have the will.
Imagine your car connects automatically with the next stoplight so that the light is green when you go through the intersection. Not idling unnecessarily at the intersection conserves fuel, puts less carbon in the air, and saves you time. Your car is also connected to the public safety infrastructure, so if you have a problem, the police or the emergency medical system is notified automatically. You can even find out if the restaurant close by has a table and then make a reservation.
Now imagine that we had a robust system of clean Proterra buses throughout the Upstate. On a smartphone you call a vehicle that comes to your home and takes you to the meet the bus. At the stop closest to where you work, another vehicle is waiting for you to go the last mile or so. That entire multi-modal experience is managed seamlessly through one smartphone app. For many people, that sure would beat sitting on the interstate or Woodruff Road during their daily commutes.
Greenville County Councilman Fred Payne is our passionate, tenacious champion for a more efficient personal rapid transit system in Greenville. Recently he hosted a transportation leader he met through InnoMobility, Corey Clothier from COMET.
Corey is working with the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center to develop autonomous vehicles. His first demonstration project is the Wounded Warrior Campus at Fort Bragg. The wounded soldier barracks are roughly 400 meters from a hospital on one side and a cafeteria on the other. Some soldiers have physical disabilities and aren’t mobile. Others go through intense physical therapy or take such strong medications that while they can walk to their appointments, they can’t walk back.
The Wounded Warrior Campus will provide on-demand personal transit through autonomous golf carts that operate at a top speed of 8 miles per hour. Soldiers call the vehicles via a cellphone to take them where they need to go. The soldiers get out of the vehicle, which automatically returns itself to the pool to await the next soldier’s call, eliminating parking hassles.
Once this limited demonstration project is up and running, it’s easy to imagine it expanding to all of Fort Bragg, perhaps at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. From there, it’s not too great a leap to imagine a system of autonomous vehicle throughout the Fayetteville, N.C., area.
Actually, what is exciting about Corey’s visit is he was here to discuss the first community demonstration project being in Greenville. He met with leaders at CU-ICAR and with business and political leaders that were very interested in how to partner with Corey.
An autonomous vehicle system aligns well with a number of Greenville assets. CU-ICAR’s Project Green is a state-of-the-art wireless test track at SC-TAC that could be used for testing the system. Perhaps a good demonstration location would be connecting the Verdae Master Planned Urban Community with the CU-ICAR campus nearby. Perhaps the wounded warrior campus concept could be implemented at a Greenville Health System campus. Maybe autonomous vehicles could connect the NEXT Innovation Center on Cleveland Street with Main Street downtown and on to the co-work space by the railroad station on Washington Street.
Recently, GM said they were very closely watching Tesla, which makes a high-end electric sports car. Tesla may be a good competitor to GM, but a high-end innovation won’t disrupt the car industry. The existential threat to GM is the fellow who makes an autonomous vehicle system work over 400 meters on an Army base, then incrementally improves the system until it works across an entire small city. Some people may decide that this system is so effective and convenient for them that they don’t need to own a car, or perhaps only need to own one car instead of two. A small competitor that seems so small and immature that it doesn’t warrant much attention is how the automotive industry will be disrupted, like many industries before them.
For the stars to align to make Greenville a global leader in the emerging sustainable, connected, multi-modal, personal transit industry, we need the will and the leadership that Greenville has demonstrated in many catalytic projects in the past. This will be a focus on InnoMobility 2012 on November 6 and 7. Carpe diem.
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John Warner is CEO of InnoVenture, whose global Web platform helps people with big ideas attract needed customers, capital, talent and technology. InnoVenture.com partners include major corporations, universities and entrepreneurial companies regionally and around the world.
