Pretty much every tech company has a digital assistant nowadays. Apple has Siri, Samsung has Bixby, Microsoft has Cortana – and now there’s another AI companion to talk to. It’s called Sayer, it’s made by Jaguar – and it’s going to live inside your steering wheel.
Jaguar is revealing Sayer at the Tech Fest event this week, and although it’s just a concept, it answers interesting questions about the future of both driving and car ownership. Jaguar says the smart steering wheel will live in your home as well as your car, and it’ll also be able to carry out hundreds of tasks – from navigation to purchases.
However, the most interesting thing about Sayer is the way Jaguar thinks it’ll be used in car sharing plans. Jaguar says Sayer will be “the only part of a car you own” and will instead be the thing you plug into shared cars – or even autonomous ones.
That makes sense, because the steering wheel is the part of a car you have the most contact with, and therefore the most personal part of a vehicle. By turning ut into a device you can take into your home, use, and then plug into different cars, Jaguar is preserving the feeling of car ownership – but reducing the cost, congestion, and environmental impact.
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Part of Jaguar’s release on the wheel sheds more information on how it’ll be used: “Simply ask Sayer from the comfort of your living room and it will work out when you get up, when a car needs to autonomously arrive at your door and even advise which parts of the journey you might enjoy driving yourself.”
As for the name? Jaguar’s futuristic steering wheel gets its name from Malcolm Sayer, a prominent designer for the marque from the 50s to 1970.
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