Future Vision

The year is 2057. Cars are not quite flying yet, but they are doing a lot of other cool things.

Some use sensors to course through jammed traffic, or send impulses into drivers’ muscles to incite better steering. Others incorporate synthetic tendons to make body panels more flexible. Some communicate with occupants via holographic interfaces or change shape according to environment.

These, at least, are the visions of the car designers who vied to win this year’s Design Challenge at the Los Angeles Auto Show (held Nov. 16 through Nov. 25 following two media preview days). The Volkswagen Slipstream was chosen as the winner "for how well it integrated into personal and work life, the level of innovation and technology, as well as its unique styling," according to a statement released by the L.A. Auto Show. Judges liked how the two-wheeled, teardrop-shaped pods travel upright for city driving and shift horizontally for highway motoring. Read more about the Slipstream below.

The premise of the Design Challenge is that in 50 years, robots and artificial intelligence will be ubiquitous. The task was to render a vehicle that incorporates these monumental changes into a “robocar” of the future. According to the entries, cars will be automated, shape-shifting, multipurpose, robotic green machines, able to sense and transform to meet changing needs instantly.

Sounds far out. But what will cars really look like in 2057, and what will they be able to do? While the entries seem strange and the concepts sound outlandish, the technology that many of them purport to share — nanotubes, solar panels, muscle-like synthetics — are not far-fetched.

They all have potential application in cars and other products. Many recent concept car designs seem to have taken cues from labs like MIT, which has its own concept car project, with design led by architect Frank Gehry and support from General Motors. Similar ideas have been floating around design shops for years.

To get a clearer picture of the cars of the future — under the guise that an unbound imagination is key to solving real-world problems — we interviewed designers to determine which of their ideas are likely to get applied in auto design, and in what fashion, from now to 50 years out.

Audi Virtuea Quattro

The Pitch: This single-seat, autonomous driving machine senses other traffic and resembles a metal canoe: It’s a solid unit at its core. Owners choose from myriad holographic exteriors that can be changed minute to minute.

Interesting and Applicable: Artificial intelligence combined with sensors to replicate so-called “efficient swarms” in the animal world, where ants, birds and fish move en masse through intricate paths without stopping or colliding. “We are trying to take more of an active approach to solving these infrastructure problems, rather than relying on the government to build wider freeways,” says Jae Min, assistant chief designer at Audi of America.

Bordering on Bunk: Holographic exteriors seem problematic. For instance, if the vehicle appears to suddenly change shape during motoring, it may pose safety problems for other drivers.

GM-Onstar Ant

The Pitch: “Artificial muscles” connect body panels and enable an endless variety of shapes, as well as autonomous mobility. Vehicle-to-vehicle communications automate movement.

Interesting and Applicable: The vehicle’s body is magnetically suspended on three orb-like wheels that move independently, and can roll in any direction to ease parking. Body material made of tiny tubes with “electro-active actuators” or, “artificial muscles,” make a kind of robotic ligament material that connects the panels of the Ant, like “a super high-tech hinge,” says Steve Anderson, strategic manager at GM’s advanced design team.

Bordering on Bunk: This Ant seems to ache for a better look. There are no windows, for instance, but that’s on purpose, says Frank Saucedo, studio director of GM’s advanced design team. It’s not actually a free-standing vehicle, just an “open-source, autonomous platform” for any application or body type.

Honda 1⁴ — One to the Power of Four

The Pitch: The solar-hybrid Honda 1⁴ is an energy-efficient, fully robotic commuting solution, allowing four carpoolers to share commuting costs and HOV lanes. Once near each of the passengers’ final destinations, the 1⁴ detaches into four separate vehicles.

Interesting and Applicable: With hybrids growing in popularity, solar technology may yet get integrated into production vehicles. “There’s basis for solar, but it’s hard to do on cars,” says Dave Marek, VP of design at Honda Research and Development. “Solar cells are hard to package, that’s been the problem.”

Bordering on Bunk: The separation and reformation of the 1⁴ via panels that reconfigure on the molecular level.

Mazda Motonari RX

The pitch: A driving suit serves as the primary mechanism to control the vehicle. The suit and car contain millions of microscopic controls that allow the driver to “experience the road psychosomatically, receiving electrical stimulation to specific muscle groups.” Acceleration and direction of the car is determined by two armrest-mounted control points, while the occupant’s own leaning and body position aids cornering.

Interesting and Applicable: High-tech psychosomatic “haptic” sensors are not so far out, says Franz von Holzhausen, director of design for Mazda North America. “With video games you’ve got vibration in the controller,” he says. “This car would give you some sort of pushback as well, so you could better control the vehicle.”

Bordering on Bunk: If gone haywire, it would seem that the electric to-and-fro between a driver’s muscles and a car’s synthetic materials could end up being torturous, or at least harrowing.

Mercedes-Benz SilverFlow

The Pitch: At the press of a button, “micro-metallic particles” from a pool of “ferromagnetic material” (for easy storage, of course) turn into a car. Magnetic fields arrange the particles to create whatever vehicle the owner desires. Damage can be self repaired, and any color, configuration or size is possible, depending on the amount of source material available.

Interesting and Applicable: In rendering the SilverFlow, Mercedes made it look futuristic yet desirable: The SilverFlow is something we could imagine staring at, using and living with on a daily basis in 50 years. Taking cues specifically from the Weimar era of Art Deco and Bauhaus, the design team created a visionary version of a past gem.

Bordering on Bunk: The far out micro-assembly construction is a big “if.” Large numbers of experts still dismiss nanotech-inspired molecular manufacturing as more fiction than science.

Nissan OneOne

The Pitch: Nissan calls this three-wheeled car-robot “the ultimate pet, a friendly, helpful member of the family of the future.” Guided by a GPS network, the OneOne will pick up the dry cleaning, buy the groceries and take the kids to school, all by itself.

Interesting and Applicable: Hinged in the middle, it can “stand up” for parking in tight spaces and “lie down” for speedy cruising. At slower speeds synthetic muscles — similar to those described on the GM-OnStar Ant — in its “legs” propel the vehicle along, as if skating.

Bordering on Bunk: We’re not sure if people would feel comfortable entrusting their children to be safely transported via a robotic car, no matter how cute it would look. GPS is not failsafe. But automating grocery and laundry pickup would be fabulous.

Toyota Biomobile Mecha

The Pitch: Extract pollutants from the air to power the engine, adding no further contaminants to the atmosphere. Four “nano-laser” wheels with suction cups allow the Biomobile to climb vertical structures. Nanotechnology enables the vehicle to shape-shift into a compact commuter, performance vehicle or temporary dwelling.

Interesting and Applicable: A vehicle that can convert to a living space is appealing, particularly when paired with automated driving. “You can use it as a practical work or dwelling space, as you travel,” says Edward Lee, creative designer at Toyota Calty Design Research center.

Bordering on Bunk: Though spent cooking oil and old tires are already being used for fuel, air pollution as a sustainable energy source seems unlikely; so do the Biomobile’s laser wheels and metallic suction feet.

Volkswagen Concept Slipstream

The Pitch: This teardrop-shaped pod can motor in a fully upright position to occupy a footprint one-fifth the overall size of the vehicle. When on a specially constructed lane of freeway called the “Slipstream,” the car lies parallel to the ground and rear fins slide out, allowing speeds over 250 mph.

Interesting and Applicable: The hovering Slipstream uses airplane technology (a mix of wings, wind, and aerodynamic principles) to lift off the surface and stay there. “There’s a lot of research on ground effects for new military vehicles or troop transports, because this type of motoring is very efficient,” says Derek Jenkins, chief designer at Volkswagen of America.

Bordering on Bunk: There are serious challenges to creating a two-wheeled missile like the Slipstream: “variability in wind conditions, weather and traffic,” Jenkins says.

Here we’ve presented each concept car in a nutshell. Check back for in-depth coverage on each model and the innovations they bring.