Designers focus on the rides of the future and come up with some very interesting concepts.
What to do with the youth of today? Rather than complain about their music, inability with the written word or lack of respect for their elders -- or anyone else, for that matter -- a group of auto designers started asking questions such as: "Given the hyper-connected environment in which they've grown up, how will young people connect with their cars 20 years from now?
Audi eSpira and eOra
Basic premise: In an automated world, why not an automated car?
Conceptual execution: Automated driving could be safer and more efficient; it could also detach the driver from any meaningful connection to his or her car. True to Audi's roots, the eSpira and eOra concepts would remain design-forward and driver-focused, using next-generation vehicle control logic to respond in real time to the slightest movements and gestures from the driver - an automated system that makes the car an extension of the body. The eSpira is Audi design taken past the logical extreme, while the eOra provides a tiny, personalized footprint with the added benefit of hairpin-turn control.
GM Car Hero
Conceptual execution: Both a game and an actual vehicle, Car Hero is a gamer's dream come true and a parent's nightmare. Except, of course, it's not as dangerous as it sounds: Plug your destination into a smart-phone app and the car gets you there on its own; while it's taking care of business on the road, though, you can "play along" while trying to match the system's "skill level." As you progress through the "game," the system challenges you via a "transmorphable" virtual architecture, meaning the better you get, the fewer wheels you have to work with. Go up a level and suddenly you're no longer piloting a 4-wheel vehicle, but a 3-wheel one and, eventually, the ultimate challenge: steering the single-wheel ride.
Honda Helix
Basic premise: A car that adapts to its driver and its environment
Conceptual execution: Using insight gleaned from the human genome (or so they say), the developers of the Helix have envisioned a car that adapts to a whole bunch. Flexible and transforming multifunctioning parts allow the car to take on three distinct shapes: the "A" shape, which is short and wide for tight, winding city streets; the "B" shape, long and low to allow city sprawl to be covered at high speeds; and the "Z" shape, which is tall and thin to fight narrow streets and congestion. Similarly, bio-feedback based on - and, yes, we're serious - a connection to the driver's DNA would allow the car to grow with its owner, adapting to and updating all sorts of driver preferences and predilections over the life span of the vehicle (or, for that matter, owner).
Mazda Souga
Basic premise: Create your own truly bespoke, self-designed car online
Conceptual execution: Young people are decisive and entrepreneurial, and so want to be hands-on in the design of their own vehicle. The virtual-reality site VMazda allows just that, letting potential customers create, customize, share and tweak original car designs - all under the eye of a design mentor, and all for free. Once the electric vehicle is agreed upon and built, it's bought at minimum cost (a price of $2,000 or so), with the driver then paying for his monthly electricity consumption, much like a tweaked version of a modern cellular phone contract.
Toyota Link
Basic premise: The social networking realm expands to transportation.
Conceptual execution: You're in college, you have no disposable income, yet you need to commute to school; in 2030 you'll head to a Hub to pick up your Link vehicle for the day. If you want to customize the exterior design, just download a Link Skinz to digitally alter its appearance. And rather than pilot the vehicle yourself, you plug into a transportation social network to get where your classmates are going. Along the way, you can trade music or share information, all while the electro-conductive Spheres on which you're traveling (no wheels for the Link) keep things green by converting friction to energy in order to recharge the battery.
AND THE WINNER IS ...
Nissan V2G [UNLMTD]
Basic premise: Forget charging stations - let's electrify the highways.
Conceptual execution: The highways have been electrified en masse, and Nissan's V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) cars get their power directly from the road. The cars are cheap to purchase and come with a wide variety of grid access plans to choose from (think, again, of a mobile phone plan). Younger drivers, conversant with hacks and DIY projects, start figuring ways to take the vehicles off-grid, and a new car culture is born of the endless mods, tweaks, hacks and improvements that younger drivers make to their personalized off-grid V2Gs.
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