It’s been the “Detroit Auto Show West” this week at CES in Las Vegas where autonomous car technology is generating hundreds of headlines. But not to be overlooked is Durham’s with its self-and-solar-powered ELF vehicles, which has been there, too.
Are these small, three-wheeled vehicles that more closely resemble bicycles and run on sustainable energy than Google cars the wave of the future?
Rob Cotter is standing on his bet that they are.
Its founder spent years as an automotive industry engineer, and he firmly believes the “culture” of car ownership is changing in favor of alternatives, like the ELF, regardless of autonomous control.
So what’s Rob Cotter done to capitalize on the autonomous craze? He’s built a remote-controlled ELF.
Cotter skipped the show. “I’m allergic to Vegas,” he says with a smile when contacted at Durham’s headquarters.
“Actually I have some critical meetings right now so no Vegas for me this time around.”
As a photo with this post shows, however, the ELF was there in all its colorful splendor. The ELF is being demonstrated as a “diagnostic and therapeutic fitness tool” with a partner, Fitness in a Heartbeat. The ELF provides the opportunity for drivers to get a workout as they drive to work or to a meeting or to lunch.
Given all the hype about the autonomous cars and Cotter’s background, The Skinny sought his wisdom about what’s happening in the auto industry – and how it might affect his own company which is seeking to disrupt the car ownership world.
Given your automotive background, do you buy in to all the autonomous vehicle hype? Will they really happen? if so, when?
“It will happen,” he replies. “It’s one way for car companies to deal with declining vehicle ownership.
“How it all really pans will be interesting but clearly the writing is on the wall and the numbers are in, resistance to individual’s owning cars is growing and it will change our whole culture,” he adds. “This also deals with parking space issues. 25% of city auto travel time is spent looking for parking.”
Auto sales set records in 2015 in the U.S., but Cotter sees changes on the horizon – globally – with demand for the ELF continuing to grow. Organic Transit recently signed a manufacturing agreement with a much larger firm building ELFS in South Carolina to meet demand Cotter said the firm’s operation in Durham couldn’t meet.
“How it all really pans will be interesting but clearly the writing is on the wall and the numbers are in, resistance to individual’s owning cars is growing and it will change our whole culture,” Cotter says. “This also deals with parking space issues. 25% of city auto travel time is spent looking for parking.”
There’s no doubt, however, that autonomous control is being driven by numerous demands, Cotter points out.
“I don’t think any car customers has ever requested driverless autos,” he says. “It’s essentially technically driven by societal demands. Issues like drunk driving, increasing costs, extending work times (think how many people will be Googling instead of driving) 40,000 traffic deaths per year, the list goes on.”
So is autonomous a way for Elf to go? He sees possibilities.
“To autonomize an ELF is exponentially simpler than a car and potentially more practical,” he points out. “Think of the 5,000 pound, 80 mile-per-hour steel behemoth versus a 160-pound plastic bubble going 15 miles per hour. Consider the UPS drop box on the corner. At the end of the day full with parcels it just heads off to the UPS depot all on it’s own. Perfect for campuses, state parks and transporting disabled travelers. This takes place for pennies on the dollar and with zero carbon.”
As an initial step toward autonomous ELFs, Organic Transit has created a loaded vehicle for demonstrations.
“We’re just finishing up our ‘Social Mobility’ ELF. It has nine cameras, mobile Wi-fi, a dozen USB ports and multiple phone charging. It will be remote controlled and as people approach and start commenting, the video kicks in immediately recording from multiple angles and putting it up onto various social media.
“Theoretically it can pull up to any crowd and create a party.”
But the task hasn’t been easy, just as Google and other companies have discovered in trying to autonomize.
“Although this all sounds just like fun there a lot’s of practical applications that come from this,” he explains. “Things like cameras instead of side view mirrors, 200 mile range battery packs and as mentioned above, stepping stones to an autonomous ELF.”
An unknown is how much automated controls would cost.
“As an autonomous option I couldn’t speculate on that at this time,” he says when asked about pricing.
But he’s thinking an Uber-like option.
“One of applications we’re working on is ELFShare, where dozens of ELFs are in a city, available to hundreds of people,” he says. “You schedule the ELF in your network and it comes to get you at a predetermined location.”
Concerns about safety have driven opponents of Google and others to call for strict regulation and such things as a steering wheel and pedals that a human could use to override autonomous control. Could such a group targets a robotic ELF?
“They could but I would believe their motives are different going after cars,” he says.
In the meantime, Organic Transit will continue building and selling vehicles around the world.
“Our intent was never to manufacture ELFs to the scale necessary,” he says in explaining the decision to contract with a large manufacturer.
“FLEX is presently building ELFs in South Carolina. Our mission is to be building them where they’re being sold. Because FLEX is a global assembler in 20 countries, this goes well with our intentions as they can be built in Poland or Israel, wherever the geographical demand is.”
