Self-Driving Hotel Rooms May Soon Become a Reality
Introduction
The Autonomous Travel Suite integrates transportation and hospitality though a driver-less, mobile suite offering door-to-door transportation service in between the traveler's home and destination. Within a compact hotel room environment, the suite is equipped with basic sleeping, working and washroom functions, allowing the guests use their travel time more efficiently and productively. Using Autonomous driving technology, the travel suite brings you to multiple destinations working as your personal vehicle and mobile hotel room.
Autonomous Interface, a new platform for Intelligent Hospitality Service
The Autonomous Travel Suite communicates through a central platform called Autonomous Interface, which controls various operations and services in between Travel Suites and Hotel Facilities using advanced technology. Travelers can easily enter multiple destinations and necessary services through an online app. and the Autonomous Travel Suite will be automatically delivered to the travelers front door. The Autonomous Interface will then analyze the best routes and communicate with nearby facilities to arrange requested services along the way. It will automatically control indoor environments and check with your vehicle's status to make sure everything is in best condition along the trip.
Autonomous Hotel Chain, a network of Autonomous Hotels
The travel suites are operated by the Autonomous Hotel Chain, which is a network of hotel facilities offering stationary parent units and public amenities which can be added individually depending on the travelers need. It provides public amenities such as Food and Beverage, meeting rooms, spa- pool & gym along with housekeeping, maintenance & charging services for the travel suites. Each facility can be booked individually, meaning travelers can use any nearby Autonomous Hotel facilities such as gym, pool or meeting rooms as much as they need during the travel. The Autonomous Hotel also has unmanned service vehicles which can be dispatched to nearby Travel Suites, providing fresh batteries or room services. The Autonomous Hotels offer parent units where individual Travel Suites can dock into, forming upscale integrated units.
Autonomous Travel Suite is not a car, it is a mobile room
The Autonomous Travel Suite differs from normal autonomous commute cars in that it is a specifically designed and serviced mobile space operated and managed by Hospitality professionals. Long distance travel requires a room, a space that is properly equipped with the right furniture, equipment, environment and human conditions. When it comes to long distance travels, the actual limitations are not about "how long can a car drive you around?" or "how long can the battery last?". The real issues are about "how long can people stay inside a limited space?" or "what can people actually do during the long travel time?". Passengers need a real space with washrooms, beds, desks, windows and natural light, which is why the fancy new autonomous car designs will simply not work for long distance travels. The Autonomous Travel Suite is a specialized Hospitality-serviced mobile room, not a car. It is a platform hosting new technologies and hospitality services that can make travel more convenient and meaningful.
Transpitality, Transportation + Hospitality
The Autonomous Travel Suite is a new form of hospitality merging transportation and hotel into one form, offering flexible travel schedules, lower costs, privacy and mostly comfort. Compared to domestic flight or train travels which require multiple steps of transfers and check-ins throughout the travel, the Autonomous Travel Suite operates as your personal rental car and hotel room providing unlimited flexibility and mobility at a cheaper cost. The Autonomous Travel Suite rental cost basically covers the cost for local transportation (taxi or rental car), air flight and hotel altogether which makes it a more competitive option compared to domestic flight or train travels. If there are more than one person traveling, the overall travel cost becomes even more competitive.
Infrastructure for Domestic Travel within US, West and East coast
Most of the major cities in United States are located within a less than 10 hour driving distance, where intercity transportation is mostly made by domestic air flights and train connections. However, flight or train travels require secondary means of transportation to get to or from the airport or station involving a lengthy transfer and check in process with fixed schedules. Normally this process makes the overall travel time from two cities over 6 hours at the minimum, which is why Autonomous Travel Suite can become a competitive option.
The United States interstate highway systems are well developed and maintained to be used for intercity road travels along with great infrastructure built around it. With many pre-existing hotel chains and rental car facilities, gas stations already established, the autonomous driving infrastructure can be relatively quickly developed and added to the existing infrastructure. Hotel brands can come up with action plans to gradually upgrade their services to fit the advanced technologies.
Autonomous travel suite, your space traveling with you
The lengthy process of checking in, waiting and transferring in between different means of transportation are no longer necessary with the Autonomous Travel Suite system. You can begin your travel at any minute and you can customize your travel with multiple stops if you want. There is no more worrying about flight transfer or delays and no more running around with heavy luggage. You just need to hop into the Autonomous Travel Suite and enjoy your travel until you reach your destination place. As a new way of traveling, the Autonomous Travel Suite will become a strongly competitive form of inter-city traveling bringing impact on conventional transportation and hospitality industry. Along with future technologies including Artificial Intelligence, robotics, drones etc, the Autonomous Travel Suite will become your companion, changing your journey into a destination.
Enjoy the freedom of your journey
Autonomous travel suite, your space traveling with you
Jury & Audience Discussion @ Radical Innovation Award 2018
On October 3rd evening, there was a finalist presentation and panel discussion for Radical Innovation Award 2018, at the New Museum in New York City. There was a panel discussion and Q&A session with juries and audience who are leaders from across the hospitality, design, real estate, and finance industries. The followings are some key points from the discussion.
- Autonomous Travel Suite is a Hospitality Service specifically designed for long distance travels. It is different from personal commute or leisure cars. It is a Hospitality Service that covers the full scope of travel, door-to-door.
- Autonomous Travel Suite is a Room, not a car. It is a room which has flexibility to customize the usage, scale, furnishings, appliances and services. You can use the online app to select necessary features individually (like a cradle, or tv screen etc.) and it will be delivered to your front door with all your needs.
- The Autonomous Hotel Chain is like a joint operation in between a Rental Car Chain and Hotel Chain. It has properties in every city and within a 1-2 hour driving distance.
- Autonomous Travelers can book any of the nearby facilities (like gym, pool, shower and the parent-suites), and these will be charged per usage. If it is a short day trip, you don't need to use any of the service, you can just stay with the Travel Suites
- The Autonomous Travel Suite is an electric vehicle. The batteries will be maintained by the Autonomous Hotel Facilities and if you need replacement, the service vehicle will come and exchange your batteries with a new one. No need to wait, plug and charge the batteries.
- Radical Innovation Award is an annual design competition inviting innovative ideas related to Hospitality. Founded by John Hardy Group and co-produced with Global Allies and Sleeper Magazine, the event invites leaders from across the hospitality, design, real estate, and finance industries to discuss innovative ideas and projects around the world. Innovator-level sponsors included Beyer Brown, DFL Legal, Martin Stringfellow Associates, Son & Sons and the UNLV School of Architecture. Visionary-level sponsors included Magnetic, Castell Project and RIVUR.
- Radical Innovation Award is a 2-stage competition with the first round submission completed on April, 2018.
- Special Thanks to John Hardy Group & Dada Goldberg Team
