09 Jul DRIVING TOWARDS THE FUTURE: WHAT DO CAR FUTURISTS DO?
Not familiar with the work of car futurists and keynote speakers? Similar to practitioners in other fields, they may study trends happening in the space and forecast changes and developments in the automotive industry. Efforts might encompass reviewing and analyzing current technological advancements, socio-economic factors, environmental concerns, and other variables to help the car futurist get a better sense of how the industry might evolve and what type of vehicles might be prevalent in the future. Sample tasks they’re often assigned are below:
Scenario Mapping: Car futurists stay abreast of the latest technological advancements, including those in electric vehicles (EVs), autonomous vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell technology and more. Assignments often see them trying to anticipate how these technologies will shape the future of autos in terms of performance, safety and user experience.
Cultural Analysis: Pros will also further analyze societal and demographic trends to anticipate future car usage and ownership models. Factors to consider here might run the gamut from changes in urbanization to shifts towards more sustainable lifestyles and the impact of new work-from-home norms on commuting.
Regulatory Forecasting: With countries setting new environmental targets, car futurists must anticipate changes in regulations, such as stricter emission standards, incentives for electric vehicles and potential bans on internal combustion engine vehicles.
Industry Change: Of course, they’ll also frequently assess the potential impacts of the changing industry landscape such as the rise of ride-sharing services, car subscriptions and the potential impact of autonomous vehicles on the transportation industry as a whole.
Scenario Planning: Pros in the space are generally asked to develop different potential future scenarios to help automotive manufacturers, policymakers and related industries prepare for various possibilities from gradual adoption of EVs to a rapid shift towards self-driving cars.
As you can see, the work of car futurists and keynote speakers is quite fascinating and often pretty darn exciting. Doubly so given how rapidly changes in the sector are now starting to happen going forward.
