DIGS is the premiere luxury real estate lifestyle magazine serving the most affluent neighborhoods in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, California.
Issue link: https://www.southbaydiggs.com/i/763176
114 DIGS.NET | 12.16.2016 D E V E L O P M E N T S (clockwise from top) Arizona-based Local Motors' Olli, a self-driving electric vehicle that is already up and running in Washington, D.C.; Olli creator Edgar Sarmiento; the interior of the new shuttle bus that is set to streamline shared transportation systems worldwide. the builder? Maybe power becomes part and parcel of the product, but we're still 15 to 20 years away. It's fascinating to contemplate. Nanoparticle paint. This is a concept that you've heard of—nanotechnology. This is the ability to make materials smart and do things with them, like infusing paint with particulates that can be smart. One example is cars that could change colors. It's not unreasonable to assume that this technology could also make it into homes and commercial buildings. For example, you could paint a home with nanoparticle paint that can change colors. Or, imagine the nanoparticle paint is infused with a cleaning agent and you don't have to wash it; when rain comes, it resists dirt and staining. Autonomous cars. In this particular case, the implication to a builder is significant. If we can get to a world where cars don't need people to drive them, then it's very likely you will be in a world where you don't need to own a car. And if cars don't need to be driven by human beings, then you have a world where you can schedule a car and it just shows up…whether you need a two-person car or you want to go on a getaway and need a car for a family of four, or a pickup truck or a mini-van for a group of friends. The transportation you need at the moment you need it just shows up. If that becomes true, then we also don't need curbs, streets, garages, driveways and homes with setbacks off of the road. Then how we plan and execute developments is different. How real is it and when is it coming? Ford announced it is going to have an autonomous car in 2021 and is being joined by Volvo, Tesla, Google and others in and around the same time frame. It's real and happening now, and builders need to start thinking about it now in terms of the entire housing and commercial element. Drones. People thought technology entrepreneur Jeff Bezos was crazy when he explored the use of drones to deliver packages. Now everyone is looking at it. Drones now have become the hot new thing in transportation; there is amazing stuff happening. Do you remember when you were a kid It's not yet viable today to 3D print everything. That said, the prefab market is becoming more accepted because the quality and design choices and construction are better. A form of printing already is being done via assembly at the factory, and this is taking it to next step. One of the future implications of 3D printing is in trim work. You no longer have to get carpenters to do these complicated pieces, but instead you can print them onsite to specification and color and then install them…that world is coming. For example, the International Space Station recently needed to repair a product and didn't have a tool for it in space. They did have a 3D printer, though, and a toolmaker sent them a design and they used it to print the product they needed in space. It's all about becoming self-sustaining. The time frame for everyday use is probably 10 to 15 years away; it's not that far off. Wireless power. Everyone in the world believes that to get power, you have to plug into a wall outlet or use batteries. Well, there is a group of people doing wireless charging without wires. The first example of this is surface charging, where you put a device on a surface pad and it charges through induction. This is out in the market today; you can put a device on a pad and it charges. Take that same concept, and you walk into a room and it has ambient electric waves and you can wirelessly charge your phone while it's on your body. We can contemplate a world in which there are no wires. You can bring a light in and turn it on…and it's on. We just have to get it to a price point and a form where you can deploy it reasonably and safely. That is happening today, with the Department of Energy placing a lot of focus on this. What does it mean to