Renault EZ-Pod is the Corolla of the future

The Renault EZ-Pod concept is the French car-makers latest 'EZ' concept car after the EZ-Go and EZ-Ultimo creations, providing a glimpse into the future according to Renault.

Built on the same chassis as the Twizy urban electric quadricycle, but featuring a joystick instead of a steering wheel, the EZ-Pod is a tiny two-seat autonomous vehicle designed to improve urban transport.

According to Renault, the mobility services market will be worth about $18 billion by 2020 as more people require low-speed, zero-emission, autonomous transport for inner-urban requirements.

"If we can tailor the autonomous vehicles of the future to our current needs – for instance, as passenger cars – it is certain these ground-breaking devices will generate new uses and applications that emerge as the experiments progress," said Frederic Auzas, the bloke in charge of Renault's robo-vehicle program.

The EZ-Pod vehicles are being assessed as "first and last mile transportation", such as moving elderly people around housing estates, helping shoppers overloaded with groceries or dropping children off at school.

The idea behind the compact Renault EZ-Pod is to see how people would use the vehicles and modify them as required to better suit common uses.

The tiny two-seat Renault EZ-Pod is understood to be a fairly cost-effective concept by virtue of its simplified sensor suite.

As fully-autonomous cars will require dozens of sensors and cameras, the micro French robo-car uses one camera, one Lidar and a pair of radars for long and short range object detection. It has a couple of GPS antennas for real-time tracking and that's it.

Renault also revealed the EZ-Flex van back in April which is a light commercial vehicle being trailed by the French postal service (La Poste Group).

This concept is not fully autonomous like the EZ-Pod but as an experimental EV it will provide the data analysis and feedback to develop the next-generation of battery-electric delivery vehicles.

"How do we support the growth of e-commerce while reducing pollution in our cities and making them more attractive? This is a major challenge for La Poste," said Philippe Dorge, the chief operating officer at La Poste Group.

"A long-standing partner of La Poste in the implementation of electric vehicle, Renault with EZ-FLEX is proposing an innovative and modular solution. Our feedback will be used to adapt light commercial vehicles to the needs of delivery staff," he said.