Monday, January 15, 2018

China's Iconiq brings freaky new driverless cars to Abu Dhabi's Masdar City

Iconiq's Level 5
The Chinese company Iconiq will test two driverless cars at Masdar City this year, including the Level 5 – developed in conjunction with Masdar – above, an announcement made at the World Future Energy Summit at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. 

Iconiq's chief executive said the company plans to deliver the first L5 fleet for the Dubai World Expo in 2020 and begin mass-producing them at the end of 2023. 


The Iconiq Seven
The Chinese company's Iconiq Seven, one of the world’s latest EV models, is also on display at the World Future Energy Summit. This car is fully connected with Microsoft’s AZURE cloud technology and is set to hit the market in 2019. 

Masdar started testing funky little driverless cars back in 2010, which became a fun activity for visiting family and friends and brightened up a grumpy mid-summer afternoon for me many years ago, although I have no idea whether they are still there or not. 

The future is here.

Editor's note: I'm working at the World Future Energy Summit at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre this week, if this or any other post seems just a little bit random. Fun fact about me: I love everything to do with sustainability. Don't believe me? In the early days of The National I wrote a column as the Green Queen, which was no small feat back in 2011-era UAE, if I do say so myself.


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