That’s me in the spotlight, driving a blobject.
Blobject is a Spanish based company in Córdoba, which has launched the world first tourism service using electric cars equipped with a GPS assisted computer. This service provides multimedia information on existing points of interest in the city of Cordoba. This service is pioneer in the world, as we combine an electric car with ICTs.
Thanks to the geopositioning technology developed by Blobject, the visitor will be able to access information about the points of interest in the city. As the car passes within 100 meters, the 8 ½?€? screen will display the name of the point of interest. If any customer is interested, he or she can select the link through the touchscreen to get more information. The visitor has access to audios, videos, 19th and 20th city pictures, and so on. Currently, the system offers information about more than 150 points of cultural interest in three different languages (Spanish, English and French).
BBC NEWS has a story about gemcars for hire in Cordoba. The narrow upright electric cars are ideal for tourists to drive through the narrow, cobbled streets of Cordoba in southern Spain.
Alfredo Romeo feels that these electric vehicles match his vision for what personal transportation might be like in the future. He has opened a newly built garage just off one of Cordoba’s main streets. Romeo hires the Gems for USD $50 for a two-hour rental. They have special features to enhance the tourist’s driving experience.
Each Blobject car comes with a touch-screen computer system mounted in the dash. Through a USB port, you can plug in a flash drive containing information on Cordoba in Spanish, English or French.
By using GPS technology, the computer keeps track of exactly where you are in the city.
When you pass a certain landmark, the computer then knows to display the appropriate text, audio and video information about that landmark on the screen.
The computer system is based on open source software developed by a company in Seville, Spain. As with any open source software, anyone can improve and change Blobject’s code, as long as those improvements and changes are shared with others.
Note: In the future drive-by-wire systems will enable radar-equipped robot vehicles to provide a complete guided tour… with a Cockney accent and running off a fuel cell.
Not everyone is taken with them, the Cordoba taxi drivers call the electric cars “caracoles“, which is Spanish for snails. Nevertheless, the local government is behind the Blobject effort. Besides helping to fund the Romeo enterprise, at the main tourist sites the City of Cordoba has set aside special parking places for the electric cars. “It seemed to us like an important entrepreneurial initiative,” said Paco Tejada, the local government official in charge of tourism.
Alfredo Romeo has opened a second Blobject office in Seville and taken delivery of some new additions to his fleet. “The sedan model,” he calls them. “You know, for the whole family.”
I am glad that someone, somewhere is using a good idea. Now, here is a sustainable development idea for city developers in Cordoba, Seville, or elsewhere. Instead of antagonizing the livery any further, why not offer an alternative, e.g., an incentive for electric conversion. Perhaps, the mechanics at Romeo Enterprises would consider starting a conversion business.
I hope that the charging stations will be discreet and blend in with the scenery.
P.S. In truth, my GEM is not a blobject. Yes, it is green, the same color green, but more of it and with yellow hub caps, plus my gemcar is a short bed, rather than a two-seater. I do own a laptop and have had it in the GEM, but only for analysis and adjustment of the controller and on its own battery rather than running off the ancillary. No touchscreen and no GPS, either; but, my gemcar does have a recycled cooler on the back for storage. The cooler top is kept on by a non-standard piece of metal; you can tell by the black knob at one end. I saved one part from my Mazda R100; the metal rod attached to a lever that opened an air vent.
P.P.S. Speaking of innovation, maybe Austin would want to share some innovation with neighboring San Antonio. Willy Nelson driving a Saphion-powered ICT gemcar along the River Walk with Alfredo Romeo in the passenger seat, what do you think?
BTW: Hurricane Katrina hit the oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf and oil went to over USD $70 a barrel. Alan Greenspan would want us to know that most of that seventy United States dollars is going overseas.
As reports start to come in…
James Caisco of World Changing has a report on Blobject on Tour with a cool photo.
Mike Millikin of Green Car Congress says that 20 plus oil rigs and platforms are missing after Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico.
