Design challenge previews thrilling cars of the future

The results of Michelin’s annual design competition are in. Check out these wild visions of how young designers picture future mobility in some of the world’s biggest cities

by Graham Heeps

4 June 2019

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Like it or not, the way that people use cars is set to change rapidly in the next 20 years, and nowhere more so than in the world’s biggest cities.

Electric power, autonomous systems and ridesharing will redefine the concept of personal mobility in megacities such as Berlin, Mumbai, New York, São Paulo or Shanghai. Michelin’s annual Challenge Design competition asks design students from around the world to propose their visions of future vehicles. Working this year under the theme of ‘Inspiring Mobility’ in 2035, some 1,500 entrants came from 71 countries and were judged by an expert panel of designers from Ford, Nissan, BMW and Honda.

Read on to see the amazing designs from the three winners and 12 finalists, including the eye-catching Mercedes-Benz 800 Pullman (pictured), a bold look at the VIP limousine of 2035:
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Depot

This year’s winning Challenge Design project was Depot by Jintae Tak, Minseok Choi, Doohee Lee and Joonyong Lee of Seoul, South Korea. The Volkswagen-branded concept creates portable office spaces for Berlin and is inspired by traditional Korean architecture. It features a pivoting ball-joint structure to open to a right-angle, and contra-rotating wheels.
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NIO-EXT

The NIO EXT-Extended Mobility is an innovative design from Miguel Angel Garcia Londono of Medellin, Colombia. It addresses possible restrictions on car use in Berlin in 2035 with a small pod for city driving that can be extended with additional wheels and two extra battery packs for intercity use.
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NIO-EXT

The EXT’s city unit has an induction-charged battery and is driven via a magnetic motor inside a spherical rear tire. The Segway-like extension can drive autonomously on two wheels, balanced by a sliding battery pack.
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Renault Trio

Trio is an autonomous rickshaw concept for Mumbai in 2035. Designer Aditya Arun Surti from Pune, India, ingeniously incorporated waterjets to help the Trio stay mobile during monsoon season.
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Siemens Air Rescue Vehicle

Finalist Mohammed Fahd of Calicut, India, envisages that road access for emergency services will become more difficult in the future due to increased congestion. He therefore proposes the electric turbine-powered Air Rescue Vehicle (ARV).
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Siemens Air Rescue Vehicle

Each ARV would be stationed on a vacant helipad atop a skyscraper. Once it has been scrambled and has traveled to its destination, the ambulance gains faster access to the patient by docking with an emergency door on the level of the building where the emergency has occurred.
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Renault Fold

British designer Robert Crick took second place in the 2019 Challenge Design with the Renault Fold, described as “a big car in a small car’s body”. Woven from a nylon-coated metal, the foldable body is about the same length as a Fiat 500, just 54cm (21in) wide when fully folded.
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Volkswagen CIT.E

The Volkswagen CIT.E is another two-part design, this time aimed at New Yorkers. The Agile mode shown here, designed for use outside the city, features better handling from a low center of gravity and a longer wheelbase.
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Volkswagen CIT.E

CIT.E’s segmented design enables it to shrink by shrink by 810mm (32in) and grow 610mm (24in) in height in the City mode, providing improved urband visibility from a more vertical windshield, and compact dimensions for ease of parking. The Volkswagen-badged vehicle was designed by Sebastian Weigand from Gemünden am Main, Germany.
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Volvo Intersection

Third place in the 2019 Challenge Design went to the Volvo Intersection, the brainchild of Junghyun Kim and Hanum Jeong of Seoul, South Korea. The goal is to bring together lonely New Yorkers who share interests.

All three Challenge Design winners are invited to Michelin’s Movin’On Summit, a sustainable mobility conference being held this week in Montreal, and receive a private portfolio review with members of the jury.
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Lynx

Lynx envisages 48-passenger, aluminum-framed, fuel cell-powered buses that can also be lifted up to join an overhead magnetic levitation (Maglev) rail network. Lynx was created by Oliver May from Duesseldorf, Germany.
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Urban Islands

Moritz Kirschhoff of Hannover, Germany, has conceived Urban Islands, “a joyful mobility solution” to make life in green space-deprived São Paulo more sustainable. The wheel hub motor-powered Urban Islands are designed to circulate at low speed to provide hop-on, hop-off mobility even after conventional cars are banned.
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Waymo Flow

The Waymo Flow is described by designer Siavash Jafari Jozani of Novato, California, as a bridge between ridesharing and car ownership. The Flow can incorporate dividers for rideshare privacy or can be open to transport a whole family. Riders travel in personalized capsules and onboard robots can carry out last-mile deliveries.
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AirSP

AirSP addresses the problems faced by commuters in São Paulo. Designers Komal G. and Amogh Barakol of Bangalore, India, and Cuili Yan of Sichuan, China, propose the use of Maglev technology to run the modules at high level around the city.
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Mercedes-Benz 800 Pullman

The security-conscious 800 Pullman enables businesspeople or celebrities to travel incognito in the wealthy Shanghai of 2035. The autonomous vehicle’s interior is a secluded, 2-in-1 conference room and office environment.
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Mercedes-Benz 800 Pullman

To maintain discretion for its occupants, the 800 Pullman is designed to drive into buildings to pick up its passengers. Specially designed wheels provide a tight turning circle for maneuvering indoors.
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Breathe

Breathe’s helicopter design underlines the diversity of concepts competing in Challenge Design. It’s conceived for use in Shanghai in 2035 by Alberic Chevallier of Nantes, France, who won special recognition from the jury for his hand-drawn design sketches.
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NYC Ease

Challenge Design finalist, Jay Morris of Yateley, UK, designed the tortoise-inspired NYC Ease. It’s a hovering transport system that, unlike the New York Subway, enables passengers to enjoy the view on a slower but more fluid journey to their destinations.
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Starbucks Square

This concept for a mobile Starbucks that enables customers to tour the city while drinking their Iced Americanos is the vision of Jung-Taek Cho of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
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MINI Escape

The autonomous, MINI-branded Escape is “ready for any trip”, according to creator Simon Kafmann of Caldaro, Italy. Numerous different modules create a vehicle capable of carrying different forms of luggage such as bikes or surfboards, and the interior can be reconfigured with different chairs, tables or even a bed.

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