Fisker’s corporate family is growing with an interesting autonomous vehicle (AV) concept that’s been developed with help from friends in China.
Fisker Autonomous Driving Shuttle for Smart Cities
Fisker teased a while back an autonomous shuttle called the Orbit. The Orbit is tailor made for eventual smart cities. In order to do this, Fisker Inc. teamed up with Wang Qicheng (Jack Wong) from the Chinese Hakim Unique Group to create this smart self-driving electric shuttle.
https://twitter.com/FiskerOfficial/status/937212171334836229
The autonomous shuttle is expected to hit the road by the end of 2018 — although, details haven’t been revealed yet. As with any driverless shuttle, the Fisker platform will make use of a logical boxy design in order to maximize interior passenger space.
Although Fisker has revealed little to nothing about the specifications of the AV, what we do know so far is that the Orbit will have a generous digital display that will communicate with its commuters. It will display basic information, such as when it departs and what the next stop will be.
Fisker Orbit Around China
The Fisker Orbit will have its maiden trials conducted by the Hakim Unique Group, presumably in the US.
Fisker is deliberately holding back the amount of information on the Orbit, and rightfully so. Henrik Fisker was quoted as saying about the Orbit on Twitter: “An exciting Fisker product in a whole new segment is coming soon. The future of mobility will change forever.”
https://twitter.com/FiskerOfficial/status/936604324465057792
He also commented in Boss Magazine: “Hakim Group is a very large group out of China that is already working on smart cities and many other things as well. They also own some areas of hospitals in L.A., coincidentally. I got to meet one of the group’s directors in L.A., and we got talking about the future of mobility.”
Both Fisker and the Hakim group hope to set a foundation for driverless vehicle transportation in smart cities in the US.
More of a transportation pod, the Orbit displays its “Next Stop” and “Departure in 3 minutes” quite visibly, which leads us to think this will be a global platform destined for smart cities around the world, as well as hotel shuttles, amusement parks, etc.
Fisker teased a picture a while back and has really been pushing it of late.
https://twitter.com/FiskerOfficial/status/937746886563368962
If pictures are worth a thousand words, videos will give you a better idea (albeit in German about this quirky and exciting self-driving Orbit shuttle.
https://youtu.be/qeXPf_xADso
We are betting on seeing the Fisker Orbit in Los Angeles. Does anyone want to bet?
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