What's in Future Lab at the 2022 Festival of Speed

E1 powerboats

The UIM E1 World Championship Series will be the first racing series for electric powerboats, with grids of RaceBird vessels taking to waters at iconic city locations to do battle. A full-size model will be on display at FOS Future Lab, while visitors will be able to sit in a representative cockpit and have a go in an advanced simulator to experience E1 in the virtual world.

Saab Seaeye

Saab Seaeye provides incredible, remotely-operated vehicles for ocean exploration and industrial purposes. A number of these underwater robots will be on display, including the Sabertooth, which is the vehicle that found the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's vessel that sank in the Antarctic 107 years ago. The Saab Sabertooth had to descend 3,000 metres in pitch black frozen waters in search of this legendary vessel, finding it in good condition, with ‘Endurance’ still proudly and clearly emblazoned on its stern. This robot, like Endurance itself, is now an important piece of history and a testament to the potential of robotics in the exploration scene.

Northern Light Motors

Meanwhile in the comfort of our cities and on our roads, Northern Light Motors want to revolutionise personal transport, and not with some anonymous pod you have to share. This is high-end car design crossing paths with environmentally friendly future mobility. The designer is the man who penned the TVR Sagaris and that flair is obvious in the NLM. This in spite of the fact it’s an electrically-augmented three-wheeled eBike and not a 400PS supercar. The company will be debuting the fully production-ready versions of these awesome little machines in the Future Lab. We can’t wait to see them in person.

eSkootr

Joining the E1 electric boat series as a brand-new motorised sport on show at Future Lab is eSkootr, a championship for electric scooter racing. The series reimagines racing as a platform for future sustainable urban mobility. A number of quirks of the sport include the fact that it’s due to never return to the same city twice and that race riders will come from a variety of different sports. You’ll be able to see one of the eSkootrs on display in Future Lab, while visitors can also try Electrik City, a VR experience where you can watch eSkootr races with an Unreal Engine simulation. Riders will also be riding them up the Hill on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Teslasuit

From the future of transport, to the metaverse – the Teslasuit is here to transport your whole body to the virtual world. Not actually any relation to the Tesla of the motoring world, the Teslasuit is, however, arguably as sophisticated. Full body haptics, motion capture and biometric sensors make up a platform that can be used for everything from F1 driver simulations, to safety or fitness training and body monitoring. At Future Lab, a Teslasuit demo will be available where visitors can experience this incredible full-body tech.

Interstellar Lab

How do you grow food in space? This is a question Interstellar Lab is trying to answer. With the revolutionary BioPod it can create conditions to grow pretty much anything, anywhere on Earth. The next step is taking that tech into space, to the Moon, Mars and possibly beyond. At Future Lab, you’ll be able to take part in a VR experience exploring one of these BioPods and what they can do.

Airspeeder

Airspeeder is the world’s first electric VTOL flying race series, dubbed ‘the F1 of the skies’. Pilotted E-VTOLs with eight motors and four rotors will be battling it out on virtual circuits in our skies soon but for now, at Future Lab, you’ll be able to take part in a VR driver experience. You’ll also be able to see an Airspeeder Mk3 race car in person when it’s on display on the maker’s stand.

All of these exciting experiences and much more will be there to enjoy as Future Lab opens at the 2022 Festival of Speed. We’re excited to show you the future of mobility and beyond, as well as its present and past.