At CES 2020 held in Las Vegas in the United States, Hyundai Motor Group proposed a future smart mobility solution that includes UAM, PBV, and the Hub. Among them, PBVs fuse with the other two types of mobility solutions to consummate the future mobility blueprint that the Hyundai Motor Group has dreamed of. When UAM, the urban air mobility, carries people to a smart city, they pass through the Hub to transfer to PBV – a ground transportation system – and get to their destinations.
Based on these mobility solutions, Hyundai aims to free future cities and people from constraints of time and space and allow them to create more value in their lives.
The PBV is a self-driving ground mobility which can change into various shapes and functions depending on the purpose. It has a very high utility as it can be used for public transportation, clinic, cafe, living space, freight transfer, etc. When PBVs are commercialized, they will be able to act as a new type of ‘living space’. And in the era of social distancing, we might be able to utilize PBV for contact-less logistics or customized mobile space in the future.
The Hub is an innovative community space that connects UAM and PBV, where many different kinds of people can gather and blend in. It basically acts as an urban airport, but it could also transform into various kinds of space depending on which PBV is connected to it. It overcomes the spatial limitations of buildings through an organic connection with PBV. People can enjoy a more valuable and meaningful life without time-space constraints.
In order to realize future mobility solutions, Hyundai Motor Group is reorganizing its teams and staff to focus its capabilities on technology development. While speeding up research on eco-friendly and self-driving technologies to commercialize PBVs that are growing rapidly around the world, the Group is striving to build a PBV manufacturing ecosystem through open innovation to secure ‘diversifying core parts and vehicles’ and ‘various modular assembly technologies based on chassis platforms’, so that PBV can be used for various service purposes.
PBV is an eco-friendly mobility device based on the electric vehicle that supports various future lifestyles. The fully autonomous driving function will enable various uses ranging from personalized living space to public shuttle and will bring innovative changes to the transportation and logistics industries based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) optimal routing or platooning.
The global PBV market is estimated to reach 320,000 units this year and grow by an average 33 percent per year to 1.3 million units by 2025. Infectious diseases and quarantine being as major variables in the mobility market, the PBVs are expected to become more popular in the future.
The PBV is a new urban mobility solution that can accommodate a wide spectrum of future lifestyles with limitless personalization, which would make Hyundai’s Style Set Free strategy a reality.
The PBV is highly customizable in a shape of a skateboard, with adjustable size from 4 to 6 meters. PBV uses 16 electric hardware ball type wheels, which power the wheels directly and more efficiently. Without needing a huge power source, its interior can be personalized to individual needs.
According to Hyundai Motor Group, PBVs will have multiple forms and features based on its usage. Just the categories are – public transportation, multi-purpose space, medical services, residential spaces, pop-up stores (food trucks), and wireless charging. And, by the time we use PBV, there will be more categories. Hyundai Motor Group and the U.S. EV developer Canoo are going to co-develop multi-purpose PBVs that would meet diverse customer needs.
PBVs’ feature, platooning, allows it to smoothly navigate along the best route. It is a method for driving a group of vehicles together. It is meant to decrease traffic accident rate, and expected to bring innovative changes to personal deliveries, as well as supporting the wider logistics industry within future cities.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Report, too, estimates the electric car sales to reach 10 million units in 2025, 28 million in 2030, and over 56 million in 2040. This is because the environmental regulations of major cities around the world have become stricter and the utility of EVs has been continuously improved due to research and development. Using an electric motor, on the roof of the PBV are solar panels to charge a battery. PBV can also charge in-transit with the help of the charger PBVs.
The Hub is a space that connects UAM and PBV, a new concept solution in which people can come together to interact; it has a skyport for the PBV on the top and docking stations on the ground for the PBV to approach and depart from multiple directions. The first floor of the Hub can be turned into a cultural complex by bringing together PBVs functioning as a food court or a shopping mall. It can also be transformed into a medical complex by connecting medical service PBVs in the form of clinics, doctor’s offices and pharmacies.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to make smart mobility more accessible by placing the Hubs throughout future cities and building a new mobility ecosystem around the UAM-PBV-Hub network. The company will overcome mobility limitations of time and space and create new spaces where people can gather and interact.
HMG Journal Operation Team
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