Mitsubishi Motors is All About Advanced Technology
Ever since their Centennial Anniversary, Mitsubishi Motors has been making long strides. That’s 100 years Mitsubishi has been in the auto industry, and through a couple of hiccups in 2016, they’ve been surprising the auto market every couple of months with something new. They first brought to the stage their 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, but everything since then has been blowing us away.
Futuristic Tech
Mitsubishi was one of the first automakers, if not the first, to start research into some of the vehicles and powertrains we have today. They looked into electric vehicles in 1970, and in 1990, they developed an INVEC system that adapts to a person’s driving habits. This INVEC system was possibly the first step in a long line of concepts, because at the Tokyo Motor Show this year, Mitsubishi unveiled another system that goes above and beyond adapting to a driver’s driving habits.
During the Tokyo Motor Show, Mitsubishi unveiled the Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept. Semi-autonomous, the driver can choose to drive or not. Made with an artificial intelligent (A.I.) system and Mitsubishi’s autonomous driving technology, a semi-autonomous vehicle can be helpful in various driving conditions. The way it works is the default driving setup is manual, performed by the driver, like usual. During this time the A.I. in the e-Evolution will record driving habits and behavior. Let’s say, as an example, the A.I. registers the driver has some trouble driving in the rain, the A.I. will make a note of this, and the next time it’s raining, the A.I. will offer to takeover and go full-autonomous to get through the rains safely.
The A.I. in the Mitsubishi e-Evolution would be more like a virtual assistant to the driver in this case. Even if we’re not aware of it, consumers have many types of virtual assistants today, from self-cleaning vacuums like the Roomba to computers to talk to like Amazon’s Alexa. The next step would be a system like Mitsubishi Connect, where the A.I. system can go out of its way to perform tasks for the driver while on the road.
That all sounds cool, but what about the technology we have now? Mitsubishi plays a part in that too.
Modern Tech
If you ever read about a car engine and came across the acronym MIVEC or CVT, then you were reading about a technology designed by Mitsubishi that improves car performance. MIVEC is Mitsubishi’s brand of variable valve timing (VVT) technology that alters the timing events of an engine cylinder’s valves when delivering and burning fuel and air. Depending on how well designed, this process greatly improves an engine’s performance and overall fuel economy. CVT, or Continuously Variable Transmission, is a type of automatic transmission designed to shift gears more seamlessly versus shifting between set speed thresholds. This allows for the powertrain to work more efficiently, but also helps with fuel economy.
While we all wait for the release of the 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, we were able to learn about the technology that will be available. Mitsubishi will finally have its own infotainment system in the Eclipse Cross, but it won’t be anything like the Mitsubishi Connect system seen in the video above. For the time being, Mitsubishi is catching up to infotainment systems like Uconnect and Chevrolet MyLink for easy smartphone connectivity with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, amongst other technologies to help improve a driver’s experience.
At this time, Mitsubishi is definitely picking up the pace and making a lot of promises with what it has planned for the future. After all, eleven new models from Mitsubishi Motors are set to debut over the next several years. Who knows what will happen next year or the next? Tell us what Mitsubishi concepts you’re looking forward to on our University Mitsubishi Facebook page.