A Speculative Future
[of Mobility]
Story by Dré Nitze Nelson Illustration by Hervé Cecchi
In the Morning
“I’m taking the BYTON POD to meet with Jacky today.” Lisa’s voice echoes throughout the house.
“Ok,” Hervé responds. Hervé, still in bed, looks out the open widows down to the lake in front of his house. He hears the pod decoupling from the rest of the house.
The always-on wall screen
The always-on wall screen displays a quick visual feedback in response, including the coffee’s status, current location of the BYTON POD, Lisa’s heart rate, air quality, etc.. While pouring coffee, Hervé commands “Hey Byton, locate Piper”.
The always-on screen displays Piper’s location, next to a nice photo of the dog. It also shows Piper’s latest activities and the dog’s health status. Her next veterinary appointment shows up as contextual alert.
“It’s coming up in three days. Do you want to reschedule?” A voice asks. “No, please keep it,” Hervé says. “Call Piper in.” He commands the screen.
Hervé watches Piper’s location move towards the house.
Hervé receives an incoming call from his coworker Azmir.“Hey Hervé, I’m on my way to you.” Azmir says. “I have my studio with me, so we can finish up the soundtrack today”. Hervé checks the time.
“Sounds good, my friend! I’ll have everything ready when you arrive.”
Azmir Arrives
Thirty minutes later, Azmir arrives in his BYTON POD and docks in Hervé’s house. The wall behind the office opens up to provide easy access to Azmir’s sound studio on wheels.
He moves his drum set into Azmir’s studio and gets to work. They call another colleague via AR conference call to join the session. All three work hard to create the new soundtrack and finish in no time.
“Great session,” Azmir says.
Meet Lisa
“Azmir, can you give me a ride to meet Lisa? She’s on her way, but I’d like to surprise her.” “Sure thing. Let’s get your stuff out of here.”
After they pull the drum set out, Hervé says,
“Let me check where Lisa is. I want to catch her before Beach Road.”
In Azmir’s pod, they look at the BYTON Stage - an enormous transparent display which shows a map with Lisa’s current location.
“Let’s take this shortcut.” Azmir suggests.
A Possible Future
As Azmir’s BYTON Pod heads off, Lisa and Hervé drive down towards the beach in their pod.
“Let’s park here and a have a little picnic” Herve says. Lisa sounds surprised “Really?”
“Hey Byton, play my Surprise playlist,” Hervé says.
They begin to dance. “Would you like a glass of champagne?” Hervé asks.
“Well… I can’t. I have to tell you something,” Lisa says. “Hey Byton, show the video from my ultra sound” Lisa whispers towards the display.
The BYTON Stage displays a movie with a pulsing heartbeat. Hervé sits down in a stupor.
“Wow…you really know how to surprise me,” he says. After a moment, he jumps up, grabs Lisa by her hands and gets on his knees. Lisa, near tears, knows what’s coming next.
“So, I was thinking…” he whispers, “to get us an additional module and to modify this BYTON Pod so it fits to our new stage of life.” He pulls out a little velvet box. “And, do you…?” Lisa interrupts, “YES YES YES.”
They kiss passionately.
FINE
-Dré Nitze-Nelson | 安德烈 尼采-纳尔逊
Director - Head of Future Digital Product Experience [FDE] 02/2020 San Francisco
- © Dré Nitze Nelson