Future transport for China

By the year 2035 I believe that there will be a requirement for a new class of commuter vehicle. It will take over from the taxis of today and make a huge dent on personal cars of city workers.It will need to blend automation, vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication, shared usage and mass travel all together. I envisage that it will be used by the ever growing middle class commuter within the city along with the ever present tourists in the mega city.

“By replacing the human driver with an electrical operating system, cars are able to drive at high speed at short distances behind one another.” (Schilperoord, 2006)

Vehicle safety is always a priority when it comes to modern vehicle design. By automating the driving process you can eliminate human error and reduce reaction times for such things as braking and accelerating. This in turn makes the process safer, the traffic run smoother and reduces the chances of blocked roads.

There will most likely still be many cars on the roads that don’t have full automation so certain safety aspects will still be require, crumple zones, airbags, seatbelts etc. But the automated vehicles could have their own lanes on the larger roads. Similar to how bus lanes and carpool lanes exist at the moment. The following extract shows that the major car manufacturers of today are seriously thinking about the development of the driving experience.

“Certainly, car sharing is an option,” says Ralf Herrtwich, a leader in Mercedes’s autonomous car project, in Stuttgart. “Get the vehicle at your command, drop it at your convenience, no parking.”

(Spectrum.ieee.org, 2014)

The car sharing aspect lead me onto further developing the idea that you can buy your own carriage or you can use a standard issue version much like a the choice between owning your own car or using a taxi service in the present day.

The materials that will be used to construct the vehicle will be lightweight and the need for crash protection will be lower as the chances of crashing would have been reduced. I imagine that by the year 2035 the majority of structural components of the vehicles will be a variety of inexpensive yet super strong polymers such as carbon fibre based sheeting.

I came to this conclusion by looking backwards at the development in the materials used in vehicle production. The original vehicles such as litters, carts and carriages were constructed from wood. Then as the vehicles developed at the car was created, the body was constructed from beaten sheet steel over wooden or iron frames. As technology moved forward so did the way the vehicle body was constructed. The car chassis became part of the car bodywork when the monocoque chassis was created. Now the development has moved on further and the top car manufacturers such as Audi and Jaguar are now using monocoque chassis made from aluminium to provide the same strength as the steel equivalent but at a reduced weight. This in turn gives the consumers better fuel consumption.

“Aluminium is a relatively recent addition to the world of metals. Audi have embraced this high-tech, lightweight material with its incredible mechanical properties, and made it a major feature of their brand-testament to their commitment to developing and using advanced engineering and materials... The A8 model offers a substantial weight reduction compared with similar cars. The space frame” weighs only 215kg, almost half the weight of an equivalent frame in steel” (Lefteri, 2006)

Further developments in materials in car manufacturing has led to the use of carbon fibre reinforced plastics becoming more popular. As you can see, the trend in the industry has alwaysbeen to find a safer, lighter weight and stronger material for the body and chassis construction.

Recently a company called Local Motors has used the latest 3D printing technology to create a car chassis and body in full for an electric car. This innovative thinking could lead to a future scenario where cars are fully manufactured from Direct Digital Manufacturing also known as 3D printing. This can reduce tooling costs and the numbers of components needed.

The aesthetics will blend cutting edge styling with nods to the transport type’s historic cultural roots. Sweeping aerodynamically designed profiles are beneficial for the fuel economy of the vehicle which extends the range in which it can travel. There are historical references to the classic rickshaws with pole like attachments at the front of the vehicle, the high seating position and the traditional red and gold colouring.

The vehicle will fully embrace the need for social connectivity of the users. As the user enters the vehicle they will be logged into their own social stream. This can be used by the tourists to find attractions and events in the area as well as letting them interact with friends around the world.

The major use for the vehicle however will be for commuting. The users can buy their own carriage unit or choose to lease one. The drive units will be like the ‘runners’ of traditional rickshaws and will contain all the mechanical workings, the vehicle to vehicle technologies and the power cell units. 

The way the vehicle is powered will be a huge improvement over current procedures. Currently the majority of fully electric vehicles are charged from main grid power and have stay at the power source. This is a threefold problem, you cannot use the vehicle now it is charging and it is still using the scarce and expensive fossil fuels to provide the energy that will be damaging the environment. The fossil fuel supply will be an increasing problem in the coming decades.

“There are an estimated 1.3 trillion barrels of proven oil reserve left in the world's major fields, which at present rates of consumption will be sufficient to last 40 years. By 2040, production levels may be down to 15 million barrels per day – around 20% of what we currently consume.”

(Imeche.org, 2014)

In Guangzhou 2035 the fuel cells will be placed on long charge in solar charging stations and then fully charged will be transferred into the drive unit. This way is beneficial as the drive unit does not need any down time to recharge. A fully charged fuel cell is always ready when its current charge is nearing depletion.

A luxury, autonomous vehicle that can be your office that is connected to the world through superfast wireless internet or the tour guide carriage for visitors to the city, the Jiao is the ideal commuter vehicle for the busy megacity Guangzhou in the year 2035.

Few comic book style doodles

Final year: Week 2 (First week of lectures)

If you know me you will know that I'm a morning person and I don't sleep enough. 

I went to sleep at 11 on Sunday night and was up at 5:30. For me that is a lot of sleep and I know that for the next 12 weeks that'll probably be the most sleep I'll get in a single night. Getting up early also means I get to uni very early and beat all the traffic between home (Littleborough) and Uni (Bradford) 

Anyway.. 

Monday: 

Arrived early and had my morning coffee in Chesham cafe. I went up to the design studio and as I walked in I saw all of our design work from last year on the tables. 

I sat with my Wacom Cintiq Companion drawing as usual. Sketching ideas for my Major Design Project. It's lovely and quiet and as the studio is on the 4th floor the views are pretty good too. 

A while later, Fin (design director) popped his head into the room and I mentioned to him that I've changed what my design project would be for the year. I previously discussed an automated mobile office idea with him but after seeing the RSA contests I decided that a form of public transport design to help people with disabilities would be a better way to go. 

When everyone else arrived at 9am (ish) we were taken through several changes that will be occurring on the course, including a better way of having our design process assessed throughout the year. It will focus more on the design work itself rather that hitting presentation dates. It's by no means easier, it's just better in my opinion. 

We had a three hour break until our first lecture so Ricky and I went for a late breakfast at weatherspoons and had a catchup as it was a long summer. 

The first lecture was six sigma. It's one of the lesser modules but I think I'm going to enjoy it. It's all about business strategy and decent practices. It was an introduction lecture so I don't yet have much to say on the subject itself. The lecturer is enthusiastic about it which really helps. 

Tuesday: 

Nothing timetabled so I spend most of the day drawing and reading at home.

Random Tuesday sketch:

Wednesday: 

Blue Sky Brief at 9am. I have a feeling that this will be one of my favourite parts of the year. Thinking outside the box and designing something between the years 2020-2030. It's not as easy as just designing anything. This is a very research heavy module and you have to back up your ideas with facts and then expanding current issues in the world trying to foresee how they will develop. I have an idea what I will be designing but I'll keep it to myself for now. 

After being pointed towards a certain useful book for the module in the library I went and bought it for 1p used on Amazon, bargain! (I hope, as I'm still waiting for it arrive).

Thursday:

It's a full day on Thursdays, 9am lecture for "tech op man" which if I'm honest, I had no idea what that was until the lecture started. It's about the role of being the operations manager and the technology used to make businesses run better, more efficiently and obviously return better profits. 

The lecturer is very animated and passionate. It sounds difficult but hopefully I'll grasp it. 

In the afternoon it's back in the studio. You might remember earlier that I mentioned last years projects being placed on the tables... 

That's because Fin and Kate talked through where we went right and wrong last year, mainly wrong! 

We then discussed what our Major Design Projects would be and there were some great ideas that I got excited about. Instantly i had a few ideas to put forward next week. 

They included one to do with the moon and one to do with a robotic fuelling station. I don't think I should say much more than that. 

This year we also will be taking part in mentoring the first and second years by creating lessons and then being assessed. It scary as I'm not great in getting up in front of people and talking but I'm sure I'll be ok. The lesson has to be a minimum of 45 minutes and no more that 2 hours and you have to take two of them. 

A couple of us stayed later to discuss which direction we are going to go with the MDP. I won't just be focussing on physical disabilities with my redesigned public transport. I will focus on aiding people with mental disabilities but at the moment I need to research a lot further to determine how to go about it.

Random Thursday sketch: 

Friday:

I'm supposed to work but currently there isn't anything for me to do so I spend most of the day on my MDP research and initial sketches. 

THIS YEAR WILL BE EXHAUSTING BUT FUN!  

Why I'm a Car Designer (Part 2)

So where were we? 

Ah yes that's right. My teacher left me utterly dejected!

I ended up designing a skatepark layout. It was terrible and I'd never skated but he accepted it. Obviously it gave me a terrible grade but at that point I'd already given up.

It was the only subject that I did badly on in my GCSEs getting a grade D. Ouch!! 

I went through a few years of not knowing what I wanted to become as I only really wanted to become a car designer. I tried media studies.. Which basically, ruined films and tv for me forever as I now automatically analyse them and rip them apart. 

I got bad grades at AS level (age 17) so I left sixth for and then lazed around like the world owed me something. 

Fast forward a few months and I started an engineering course were I learned how to manufacture things using various processes and machines. Little did I know that this free 6 month course would end up getting me back on track in the long run. After the course finished I attended a college course for design & engineering. 

In the summer of the following year I started work as a trainee draughtsman at a scaffold design company. It was basically myself and my boss working out of a spare room at his house with Asia coming in one or two days a week to sort the finance side of the business out. 

I absolutely loved working there.. I learned more in my first month on the job than I had in an entire year of college. Draughting was my forte, I was quickly picking up new techniques and shortcuts and within six months I was trusted to complete a full design from beginning to end, including calculations. Obviously they were rigorously checked before they left the office but I was a Designer...

...of scaffolds! 

But still a Designer! 

Over the next few years the company grew, moved into an office and I became the Drawing Office Manager, and then the Contracts Manager. 

I always kept a notepad on my desk to scribble quick calculations and information down on for the scaffolds we were designing but as anyone who worked with me will vouch, they were full of silly sketches of cars. 

That itch was there still... 

I want to design cars!!!!

There are only so many scaffolds you can look at before you get bored.. The team I worked with were really nice friendly people so that's why I lasted as long as I did. 

After 6 years of working the company was forced to downscale due to money issues. So myself along with two other designers decided to branch out and make a go of it ourselves. 

The next few months were hellish. Being a director of a limited company when you've got zero experience in that department isn't exactly my idea of fun. After a year we closed the business with a small profit.

I returned to work as a freelance designer for the first company. But I already set my eye on something else..

Going to University! 

I applied to Bradford University for the Automotive Design Technology Degree and I was surprised to even get a phone interview as I hadn't had the right qualifications. But as explained during my interview it was made clear that my years of work experience was just as important. 

Nik Hills, the course Director at the time was brilliant. He is so passionate about design. I knew I was talking to someone who really wanted to help me learn and when he offered me the place on the course I jumped at the chance. 

"I'm a Car Design student!"

Why I'm a Car Designer (Part 1)

I'll try to keep the chronology correct but dates aren't my strong point.

My love of cars started when I was around 7, one of my friends mums arrived at primary school in a Mercedes. It's the first time I saw one up close and to me it was amazing. (It was a W201 for any car geeks like me out there). Now I look back at it and I cringe but it was gold! The chrome grille stood out most of all, with the silver arrows proudly standing on top. 

By the age of 10 I could name pretty much every car manufacture we passed on the roads. But the most important car that made me want to be a designer was the Mclaren F1.. 

I'm not sure where I first saw the McLaren, (probably a car section of my dads newspaper) but I remember thinking that it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen! The fact that it was going to be the fastest car in the world must have been the cherry on the top. There are many cars that have left my jaw on the floor since but nothing will beat the McLaren. 

Until that point of my life I didn't think that cars were designed, they were just.. There! But this changed my view. 

People draw cars and they get made into real ones??

So the drawing began.. If I stacked all the car drawings I've done over the years I'm pretty sure It would reach the moon. 

Obviously the drawings I did were pretty terrible but I could visualise them as real cars, in my mind I could walk around them and pick out details, just like real cars. 

Through the next few years my parents bought me many concept car and design books and I became somewhat obsessed. 

During the early years of high school I still enjoyed art and design. I even found a car designers website, which was rare back then. He was called Nikki Kwee. I'm pretty sure he still works in design but I couldn't tell you where. I emailed him gushing about the industry. He messaged back with a "go for it" type message. 

Unfortunately I didn't go for it. I actually did the opposite. The main reason for this is that my design teacher said that we could design anything we wished for our GCSE work. Guess what I chose? That's right, a car. 

We had to have a talk with him about  what we have chosen and why... So I drew my best drawing ever (at that point), I spent ages on it. It was a side view of a family car not too dissimilar from a Nissan Note but this was years earlier. 

He laughed, actually laughed. In front of the whole class. I was a shy kid anyway but this was mortifying. I've never felt so disheartened. I don't actually know how I didn't cry. I felt so rubbish. 

"It looks like a soapbox car not a real car"

I think I'm going to leave it at that for today.. 

Don't worry though, it obviously gets better! 

Thank you for reading

LWJ

Welcome!

This is what I hope to be first of many blogs.

Just some background about myself. 

I'm a (not so) mature student at the University of Bradford and I'm just about to start my final year of Automotive Design Technology. It's a BSc Hons degree and if I keep on track I'll be walking out with a First. 

I'm 28 and I have worked as a scaffold designer for 10 years full time and now as a freelancer. 

My passion however has always been cars, and car design. I love product design too and will occasionally blog about products but I'll try to keep focused on the cool stuff. 

My blog will be mainly following my final year as a student and I will therefore be including my own design work. I will also chip in on the designs of others and review new concept cars and such. 

I'm sure to many of you this sounds dreadfully boring, but to anyone with a design mind, I'm sure you will enjoy reading. 

I hope to do my first real post this evening and it will be on designers that have inspired me and still continue to.

I haven't found a way to end posts yet so I'll just leave my name

Luke