mikeyb
01-27-2007, 10:54 AM
The Detroit Motor Show is not only a shop window for the giant 4x4s and pick-ups that still dominate the US car world, it's also a showcase for some extreme thinking and radical designs.
This year, Michelin's Challenge Design exhibit had the theme of safety, with entrants invited to propose a car for the North American market with innovative occupant-protecting features. They were also asked to put an emphasis on the safety of other road users, and to suggest features that would help avoid accidents in the first place.
For the first time, the Challenge was open to students and independent enthusiasts as well as professional designers from major manufacturers' studios. Here's our pick of the sketches, models and full-size mock-ups that were submitted.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/fiat-scratch.jpg
The cute one
Slovenian-born designer Uros Pavasovic designed the Scratch as his final project on the car design MA course London Royal College of Art. He conceived it as a new mini-Fiat, and Fiat is said to be considering his 'scratch-happy bumper' idea for the new 500; they're thermoplastic bumpers designed to change colour the more they get scraped and dented in the daily dodgem challenge of city driving. Pavasovic says the car's friendly looks help reduce the stress of driving. Currently based in London, Pavasovic is working on various car and yacht design projects.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/beevan-sketch.jpg
The butch one
The BeeVan from Volvo's North American truck division sits the driver unusually far forward in the cabin, and in the centre, to give a 180-plus degree view of the road through a huge wraparound windscreen. It's fitted with rear-view cameras, lane-change guidance and vehicle proximity sensors, as well as a driver-drowsiness detector. There are sliding steps for easy access to the well ventilated cabin, which has a rotating seat, sleeper berths, a dining table and storage areas, all to help the long-distance driver chill out between shifts.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/ortlieb-safefoor.jpg
The spiky one
Ex-VW designer Peter Ortleib, 26, who's currently studying for a degree at the Magdeburgh Design Institute in Germany, has built an all-weather sports car, Safefoor, with spikes that deploy automatically from the tyres and rims in slippery conditions, so no need to pack the snow chains. Safefoor also has an intelligent crash-absorbing passenger cabin structure.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/cote-schoolminibus.jpg
The practical one
Industrial designer Johnathan Cote's School Minibus is intended as a serious production vehicle that could also form the basis of a camper van, service truck or ambulance. It's electrically powered via in-wheel motors, and its design is dominated by glass, which gives a good view out for driver and schoolkids alike. And as the bus is lower-riding than usual, its bumpers are less likely to get wedged in the event of an accident, and damage to smaller vehicles could be minimised.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/porcello-midibus.jpg
The big, clever one
Porcellio, from Rubem de Fioriani Pozza Ferreira, is a high-tech microbus which automatically follows guidelines painted along a road, and is controlled via a central computer system. It can exchange information with other such buses via GPS, and uses sensors on its mirrors and bumpers to detect obstacles, people or other vehicles in its path. If it needs to venture away from its marked-out route, it can be manually controlled and directed. It's quiet and clean, too, powered by compressed-air motors, which also supply ventilation; as these four 50bhp motors are sited within the wheel hubs, the bus can have a low centre of gravity. The Brazilian designer's other projects have included work for the Brazilian army.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/tarnok-hster.jpg
The wet one
H_ster is short for Hydraulic Roadster; Budapest-born Zsolt Tarnok's concept is both powered and controlled via hydraulic systems, including a pump which sends oil to all the wheels, where it is injected into turbines to drive the car, before being channelled back to a reservoir. It is built around a carbonfibre spaceframe which is divided into two distinct sections, front end and rear cabin, separated by hydraulic pistons. In a crash, the computer-controlled pistons react to control the oil flowing through them, to slow the deceleration of the rear section. The H_ster's outer panels are soft and flexible, in case it hits a pedestrian, and much of its structure is recyclable and reusable.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/yili-puzzle.jpg
The small, clever one
Yu Li, an automotive engineering graduate from Wuhan University, China, is currently studying for an MSc in product design in Calgary, Canada; he enlisted the services of Xia Li as his marketing analyst and Changping Deng as a clay modeller to produce the Puzzle Crossover. This features a radar-based active safety system integrating adaptive speed control and electronic drive-by-wire to help the driver avoid an accident, and a rollover-resistant structure with protective doors, a shaped windscreen and impact-absorbing resin materials.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/concept-wl.jpg
The loopy one
Korean industrial design student Hyun Joon Park's Concept WL has a 3+1 seating arrangement within wraparound carbonfibre body panels, and is structured around two interlocking 'loop' frames, one around the frontal area and the other around the cabin: when one loop is deformed in an impact, the other absorbs the impact energy, expanding away from the passenger cell. Helping to prevent a rear-end impact, a display at its back end shows information on speed and direction changes for the driver behind - and could also warn, for example, that the driver is a learner or that there's a baby on board.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/turtle.jpg
The one that shrinks
Stefano Marchetto, 27, is a postgraduate industrial design student in Milan. His computer-generated renderings of the Turtle show an MPV-type fuel cell-powered vehicle, with a full drive-by-wire system and electronic four-wheel steering, which removes the need for mechanical connections between platform and cabin. There are impact-absorbing layers in the chassis, and the nose and tail of the vehicle can retract towards the middle to help absorb the energy of an impact. There's also an external airbag to protect pedestrians
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/convair-cx-1.jpg
The artic
It's 2015, and all the US trucking firms are running these hydrogen turbine-powered trucks, says Alex Chatham, a product designer in Connecticut, USA. His aeroplane-inspired Convair CX is friendlier both to the environment and to other road-users, with rear- and side-view TV cameras and proximity sensors informing the driver of other vehicles and hazards via a monitor screen, and a two-section body for more flexible turning. It's aerodynamic and fuel-efficient.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/sage.jpg
The back-to-front one
Robert Marvin's Sage has an interior layout the reverse of many family cars; its arrangement of high front-seat driving position and lower-set rear seats is said to give greater protection to rear-seat passengers. It has large glass areas with strong but slender steel/carbonfibre pillars for optimum all-round vision. So far, so usual for a concept car. Its real innovation is in its suspension: a 'hexapod' of six telescopic linear bearings and ball joints suspend each wheel, as in flight simulators, with chargeable magnetic hydraulic fluid for a quick-acting active suspension system. Marvin, an American product innovation/marketing consultant, says further crash protection comes from drivetrain modules which can shear at an angle under the passenger module, absorbent soft-coated reinforcing beams within the wraparound bumpers, and an external airbag which deploys from the top of the bonnet to protect pedestrians and cyclists as well as the Sage's own windscreen.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/mybus-1.jpg
The pedestrian-friendly bus
Portuguese multi-disciplinary designer Nuno Teixeria's Mybus - Drive Safe is built to be pedestrian-friendly, and features smart cruise control, brake-by-wire, and sensors to its rear and on its wing mirrors, to detect obstacles, other vehicles or other road-users, and activate the brakes or stability control accordingly. It's electrically powered, with in-wheel motors, and its battery cells are sited over the rear wheels away from the usual impact points.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/nasa-servo.jpg
The moon buggy one
A group effort, this one, from Anthony Sims and Alexander Marzo, both Transportation Design students at the Art Center College in Pasadena, California, and Roberto Jerez of R&D organisation Velozzi. The two-seater NASA Servo coupe/commuter car uses NASA space technology and materials; it has an exoskeleton made from a liquid-metal alloy, which can be moulded like plastic, and has external airbags made from a strong, impact-absorbing fabric called vectran. These use technology similar to the Mars Pathfinder's and Mars Rover's, and deploy at different radar-determined speeds according to the nature of the impact. The seats, inspired by a turtle shell, are built around a flexible plastic spine which would reduce whiplash injuries; there are customisable LCD screens with USB inputs, and a virtually uninterrupted glasshouse front to rear.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/himself.jpg
[/URL] (http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/sage.jpg)The glowing one
French art student Antoine Gaillot-Drevon's car, called Himself, transmits warning messages to the driver via LEDs in the steering wheel. The steering wheel stays grey when the car is stopped, is blue under normal driving conditions, but shines red when the driver needs to slow down; risk is calculated by an intelligent cruise control-style system. There's also a head-up display, with information displayed on a windscreen panel, including data picked up from electronic chips in the road.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/funf.jpg
The Securicor one
Mexican industrial design graduate Erick Alejandro Martinez Gomez has completed work placements at Volkswagen, so he's already well on the way in his career as a car designer. The Funf's shape is inspired by high-security bank trucks, but its high-waisted body and long bonnet are also designed with pedestrian safety in mind, with external airbags and multi-density bumpers with a soft outer layer. Proximity sensors and warning systems can illuminate external side lights and tail lamps to warn other drivers.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/strappy-1.jpg
The mobile airbag
French art teacher Thierry Dumaine's Strappy is effectively a large, mobile airbag, its tyres and interior made from a series of tiny magnetically controlled straps. Its huge wheels each contain an electric motor and sensors to detect obstacles or an impending impact; if a crash is about to happen, the strips of the interior cabin turn soft to cushion the occupants. The three-seat cabin also has a dashboard which reacts with the strips to move away from the occupants; the airless tyres can also activate in a similar way if the car hits a pedestrian or cyclist, reducing injuries.
[4car]
[URL="http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/ortlieb-safefoor.jpg"] (http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/funf.jpg)
This year, Michelin's Challenge Design exhibit had the theme of safety, with entrants invited to propose a car for the North American market with innovative occupant-protecting features. They were also asked to put an emphasis on the safety of other road users, and to suggest features that would help avoid accidents in the first place.
For the first time, the Challenge was open to students and independent enthusiasts as well as professional designers from major manufacturers' studios. Here's our pick of the sketches, models and full-size mock-ups that were submitted.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/fiat-scratch.jpg
The cute one
Slovenian-born designer Uros Pavasovic designed the Scratch as his final project on the car design MA course London Royal College of Art. He conceived it as a new mini-Fiat, and Fiat is said to be considering his 'scratch-happy bumper' idea for the new 500; they're thermoplastic bumpers designed to change colour the more they get scraped and dented in the daily dodgem challenge of city driving. Pavasovic says the car's friendly looks help reduce the stress of driving. Currently based in London, Pavasovic is working on various car and yacht design projects.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/beevan-sketch.jpg
The butch one
The BeeVan from Volvo's North American truck division sits the driver unusually far forward in the cabin, and in the centre, to give a 180-plus degree view of the road through a huge wraparound windscreen. It's fitted with rear-view cameras, lane-change guidance and vehicle proximity sensors, as well as a driver-drowsiness detector. There are sliding steps for easy access to the well ventilated cabin, which has a rotating seat, sleeper berths, a dining table and storage areas, all to help the long-distance driver chill out between shifts.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/ortlieb-safefoor.jpg
The spiky one
Ex-VW designer Peter Ortleib, 26, who's currently studying for a degree at the Magdeburgh Design Institute in Germany, has built an all-weather sports car, Safefoor, with spikes that deploy automatically from the tyres and rims in slippery conditions, so no need to pack the snow chains. Safefoor also has an intelligent crash-absorbing passenger cabin structure.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/cote-schoolminibus.jpg
The practical one
Industrial designer Johnathan Cote's School Minibus is intended as a serious production vehicle that could also form the basis of a camper van, service truck or ambulance. It's electrically powered via in-wheel motors, and its design is dominated by glass, which gives a good view out for driver and schoolkids alike. And as the bus is lower-riding than usual, its bumpers are less likely to get wedged in the event of an accident, and damage to smaller vehicles could be minimised.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/porcello-midibus.jpg
The big, clever one
Porcellio, from Rubem de Fioriani Pozza Ferreira, is a high-tech microbus which automatically follows guidelines painted along a road, and is controlled via a central computer system. It can exchange information with other such buses via GPS, and uses sensors on its mirrors and bumpers to detect obstacles, people or other vehicles in its path. If it needs to venture away from its marked-out route, it can be manually controlled and directed. It's quiet and clean, too, powered by compressed-air motors, which also supply ventilation; as these four 50bhp motors are sited within the wheel hubs, the bus can have a low centre of gravity. The Brazilian designer's other projects have included work for the Brazilian army.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/tarnok-hster.jpg
The wet one
H_ster is short for Hydraulic Roadster; Budapest-born Zsolt Tarnok's concept is both powered and controlled via hydraulic systems, including a pump which sends oil to all the wheels, where it is injected into turbines to drive the car, before being channelled back to a reservoir. It is built around a carbonfibre spaceframe which is divided into two distinct sections, front end and rear cabin, separated by hydraulic pistons. In a crash, the computer-controlled pistons react to control the oil flowing through them, to slow the deceleration of the rear section. The H_ster's outer panels are soft and flexible, in case it hits a pedestrian, and much of its structure is recyclable and reusable.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/yili-puzzle.jpg
The small, clever one
Yu Li, an automotive engineering graduate from Wuhan University, China, is currently studying for an MSc in product design in Calgary, Canada; he enlisted the services of Xia Li as his marketing analyst and Changping Deng as a clay modeller to produce the Puzzle Crossover. This features a radar-based active safety system integrating adaptive speed control and electronic drive-by-wire to help the driver avoid an accident, and a rollover-resistant structure with protective doors, a shaped windscreen and impact-absorbing resin materials.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/concept-wl.jpg
The loopy one
Korean industrial design student Hyun Joon Park's Concept WL has a 3+1 seating arrangement within wraparound carbonfibre body panels, and is structured around two interlocking 'loop' frames, one around the frontal area and the other around the cabin: when one loop is deformed in an impact, the other absorbs the impact energy, expanding away from the passenger cell. Helping to prevent a rear-end impact, a display at its back end shows information on speed and direction changes for the driver behind - and could also warn, for example, that the driver is a learner or that there's a baby on board.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/turtle.jpg
The one that shrinks
Stefano Marchetto, 27, is a postgraduate industrial design student in Milan. His computer-generated renderings of the Turtle show an MPV-type fuel cell-powered vehicle, with a full drive-by-wire system and electronic four-wheel steering, which removes the need for mechanical connections between platform and cabin. There are impact-absorbing layers in the chassis, and the nose and tail of the vehicle can retract towards the middle to help absorb the energy of an impact. There's also an external airbag to protect pedestrians
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/convair-cx-1.jpg
The artic
It's 2015, and all the US trucking firms are running these hydrogen turbine-powered trucks, says Alex Chatham, a product designer in Connecticut, USA. His aeroplane-inspired Convair CX is friendlier both to the environment and to other road-users, with rear- and side-view TV cameras and proximity sensors informing the driver of other vehicles and hazards via a monitor screen, and a two-section body for more flexible turning. It's aerodynamic and fuel-efficient.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/sage.jpg
The back-to-front one
Robert Marvin's Sage has an interior layout the reverse of many family cars; its arrangement of high front-seat driving position and lower-set rear seats is said to give greater protection to rear-seat passengers. It has large glass areas with strong but slender steel/carbonfibre pillars for optimum all-round vision. So far, so usual for a concept car. Its real innovation is in its suspension: a 'hexapod' of six telescopic linear bearings and ball joints suspend each wheel, as in flight simulators, with chargeable magnetic hydraulic fluid for a quick-acting active suspension system. Marvin, an American product innovation/marketing consultant, says further crash protection comes from drivetrain modules which can shear at an angle under the passenger module, absorbent soft-coated reinforcing beams within the wraparound bumpers, and an external airbag which deploys from the top of the bonnet to protect pedestrians and cyclists as well as the Sage's own windscreen.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/mybus-1.jpg
The pedestrian-friendly bus
Portuguese multi-disciplinary designer Nuno Teixeria's Mybus - Drive Safe is built to be pedestrian-friendly, and features smart cruise control, brake-by-wire, and sensors to its rear and on its wing mirrors, to detect obstacles, other vehicles or other road-users, and activate the brakes or stability control accordingly. It's electrically powered, with in-wheel motors, and its battery cells are sited over the rear wheels away from the usual impact points.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/nasa-servo.jpg
The moon buggy one
A group effort, this one, from Anthony Sims and Alexander Marzo, both Transportation Design students at the Art Center College in Pasadena, California, and Roberto Jerez of R&D organisation Velozzi. The two-seater NASA Servo coupe/commuter car uses NASA space technology and materials; it has an exoskeleton made from a liquid-metal alloy, which can be moulded like plastic, and has external airbags made from a strong, impact-absorbing fabric called vectran. These use technology similar to the Mars Pathfinder's and Mars Rover's, and deploy at different radar-determined speeds according to the nature of the impact. The seats, inspired by a turtle shell, are built around a flexible plastic spine which would reduce whiplash injuries; there are customisable LCD screens with USB inputs, and a virtually uninterrupted glasshouse front to rear.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/himself.jpg
[/URL] (http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/sage.jpg)The glowing one
French art student Antoine Gaillot-Drevon's car, called Himself, transmits warning messages to the driver via LEDs in the steering wheel. The steering wheel stays grey when the car is stopped, is blue under normal driving conditions, but shines red when the driver needs to slow down; risk is calculated by an intelligent cruise control-style system. There's also a head-up display, with information displayed on a windscreen panel, including data picked up from electronic chips in the road.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/funf.jpg
The Securicor one
Mexican industrial design graduate Erick Alejandro Martinez Gomez has completed work placements at Volkswagen, so he's already well on the way in his career as a car designer. The Funf's shape is inspired by high-security bank trucks, but its high-waisted body and long bonnet are also designed with pedestrian safety in mind, with external airbags and multi-density bumpers with a soft outer layer. Proximity sensors and warning systems can illuminate external side lights and tail lamps to warn other drivers.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/strappy-1.jpg
The mobile airbag
French art teacher Thierry Dumaine's Strappy is effectively a large, mobile airbag, its tyres and interior made from a series of tiny magnetically controlled straps. Its huge wheels each contain an electric motor and sensors to detect obstacles or an impending impact; if a crash is about to happen, the strips of the interior cabin turn soft to cushion the occupants. The three-seat cabin also has a dashboard which reacts with the strips to move away from the occupants; the airless tyres can also activate in a similar way if the car hits a pedestrian or cyclist, reducing injuries.
[4car]
[URL="http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/ortlieb-safefoor.jpg"] (http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2007/detroit-design-challenge/03-large/funf.jpg)