AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN CHALLENGE 2016

Design Brief: Driverless Vehicles

For over a century, the vehicles were centered and designed around the rider/driver andhe was in command. Hence the pivot for design of most vehicles is this ‘person in command’ and the vehicles were designed with features that improved his comfort, convenience and safety.

Some very well-known brands further evolved around the concept of ‘joy of driving’ or the ‘thrill of riding’ by placing the rider in the center. In the last century the buyers have always viewed vehicle design as the ultimate self-expression of themselves. The vehicles and some brands have thus become the most coveted of the lifestyle accessories, status symbols and tech gadgets.

Rapid changes in the society, rise in urbanization and vehicle ownership in the last decades of this century have also created associated set of problems – traffic congestion, parking, high costs of ownership, the need for speed, safety, driver fatigue, distraction, road rage, etc. to name a few. The megacities of future will further have massive population density and people and roads and we will have to evolve newer and more efficient modes and methods of commuting.

With autonomous vehicles, we are at one of the most influential changes in history of automobiles. Almost all of the automotive companies have pledged to have driverless automobiles between 2025 and 2035 and these vehicles are definitely going to have a radical impact on our society and our behavior. With the vehicles becoming in telligent and driverless, we will gain significant advantages like zero distraction, zero accidents and increased speed and high efficiency. However, the most important challenge for success of this idea would be in the participation of the people and that too when they are not in command of the vehicle.

The automotive industry will soon be a part of a revolution in the way vehicles are designed, manufactured and used with the influence of driverless technology, IoT, AI, 3D printing and a host of new technologies in the future.

Here is your challenge to script a vehicle to meet the future needs of our society.