Jaguar is exploring what the future of mobility could be in 2040. The British brand asks us to imagine a future where the car is electric, autonomous and connected. In that future we won't have cars. It will not be necessary to buy cars.
We will be in the era of acquiring services and not products. And in this service, we can call whatever car we want – the one that best meets our needs at the moment – whenever we want.
It is in this context that the Sayer appears, the first steering wheel with artificial intelligence (AI) and that responds to voice commands. It will be the only component of the car that we actually have to acquire, guaranteeing entry into a future set of services from the Jaguar Land Rover group, which will allow the car to be shared with others within a given community.
The steering wheel as a personal assistant
In this future scenario we can be at home, with Sayer, and request a vehicle for the morning of the next day. Sayer will take care of everything so that at the specified time a vehicle will be waiting for us. Other features will be available, such as advising on parts of the trip that we want to drive ourselves. The Sayer will be more than a steering wheel, assuming itself as a true personal mobile assistant.
The Sayer, from what the image reveals, takes on futuristic contours – nothing to do with a traditional steering wheel -, like a carved aluminum piece, where information can be projected onto its surface. By accepting voice commands, no buttons are needed, just one at the top of the steering wheel.
Sayer will be known at Tech Fest 2017 on September 8, at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, London, UK.
As for the name given to the steering wheel, it comes from Malcolm Sayer, one of Jaguar's most prominent designers in the past and author of some of its most beautiful machines, such as the E-Type.