
A student with an eye to the future of autonomous car design, Ignacio Fernández Miño used his Volvo 100vc project to encapsulate future design thinking. 'Imagine the future of sports cars when they start developing into autonomous vehicles,' he says, 'this is a car that captures Volvo’s values of Innovation, safety, family-focused design, and Scandinavian emotion in an unusual package.' The 100vc literally envelops its occupants, wrapping them up in a svelte skin with a sporty stance. Influences come from all around, but Volvo, Kia and Chris Bangle feature high on his list. 'As long as people want to keep their individuality and dreams, design will remain as a key component for the future of vehicles.'
Our pick of this year’s transport talents envision a future of accessible helicopter travel, cradle-to-cradle car design and a bold new design direction for Bentley.
Writer: Jonathan Bell



‘I want to find a way to design a product that is emotionally durable,’ says Casey Phua, who explores ways of making people more attached to their cars and therefore more conscious of the car’s role in society. Citing a roster of mostly architecture influences (Mies, Gaudi, Ando, Frank Lloyd Wright and Dieter Rams), Phua’s final year project created a car that can be reconfigured, personalised, changed and enhanced as demand and technology allows. ‘It’s a fun tandem, electric hobby vehicle that helps foster and grow the bond between the parent, child and vehicle,’ he says. ‘The shift to full vehicle autonomy would change the vehicle's architecture completely,’ he adds, ‘it potentially frees up so many constraints that are present today.'

‘The Gryphon is a helicopter concept designed for private use,’ Erik Evers states boldly, adding that ‘I am passionate about fying vehicles and helicopters, so I asked myself whether they would ever be more accessible.’ The Gryphon is a pretty good stab at how rotorcraft might evolve to suit long-distance private travel. It’s a thrusting, insectoid object that could be the Zipcar of tomorrow. ‘I believe that the future holds a much broader range of mobility alternatives for people,’ Evers says, ‘and when everything works really well, the only way to compete is with great design and aesthetics.’

‘The shapes we draw are influenced by both personal and external factors, which can sometimes limit creativity,’ Peter ten Klooster says, explaining how his degree project, Power of Random, explored the use of fractals to generate forms. ‘It introduces a new intuitive way of finding shapes, trying to get the designer out of their comfort zone,’ he says, and the end result is a flowing, elegant autonomous vehicle with strong organic overtones. Klooster’s work explores the interaction between furniture, transport and coming technologies.