New Car for London

New Car for London is a concept for future urban transport. The project recognises the need for user focused vehicles that serve a wide range of needs and explores how they might serve their communities. The project also recognises the importance of transport design as integral to how we experience cities.

Challenge

Electric autonomous vehicles are at the heart of future mobility solutions. Tech companies and car markers are working on developing vehicles that address emissions challenges and user needs. But as we work on defining vehicles that will feature in our lives for years to come, do we have a responsibility to rethink their role? And as globalisation continues, can we design vehicles inspired by the cities they serve as a means to create iconic transport designs that reflect a sense of place?

Solution

The New Car for London was designed from the inside out, taking a human centered approach. We looked at different types of users and what their requirements would be – from travelling for leisure or work, to those with luggage or bicycles, or passengers in wheelchairs. The interiors are modular, enabling passengers to customise the vehicle to suit their own needs. Our experience designing luxury aircraft suites has been integral to developing this flexibility of use, and creating an environment that is both comfortable, luxurious and highly practical.

The design of the vehicle itself, meanwhile, combines simple geometric forms with contemporary angular details inspired by London’s brutalist architecture. At 3.6m in length, the New Car for London is the size of a compact vehicle, but with maximised internal space. The vehicle has been designed with a large amount of glazing to give passengers a view of the city. An information strip on the door provides key information, ensuring passengers know they’re entering the vehicle they’ve ordered. An illuminated front grille, side cameras and integrated indicators provide clear markings and ensure visibility for other road users and pedestrians.

The New Car for London is accompanied by an app, which allows users to configure and control the interiors to suit their needs. Recognising that more and more consumers are used to smart home technology to control their environment, the app will allow passengers to pre-select from a series of settings from work mode to leisure, as well as customise the lighting, music and seat configuration once in the vehicle, all from their own devices.

We believe that designers have a responsibility to consider the impact of what they create, both from an environmental as well as a human perspective. One of the community focused elements of this project could be an integrated first aid kit, a means to provide support in emergency situations while waiting for first responders. It’s one of the ways we imagine the positive impact that future mobility solutions could have on communities.

PriestmanGoode’s visualisation team brought this concept to life in a short movie, using a combination of live footage shot on location and computer generated animation. Filming everyday scenes on London’s streets, the team then worked to incorporate computer generated images of the concept, combining the two to create a vision of what the vehicle would look like in its proposed environment.