The students developed new vehicle architectures to meet requirements of the changing city life as well as re-imagined the role the Lexus in the mobility landscape in 2040.
Lexus has picked six finalists in its design competition conducted for post-graduate students at the Royal College of Art in the UK where they were tasked with imagining what luxury mobility from the brand would look like in the year 2040. These finalists will now refine their work to be presented at a public exhibition on March 15 where the winning projects will be announced.
The task given to the students was to develop new vehicle architectures to meet requirements of the changing European city life, society and demographics as well as to re-imagine the role the Lexus in the region’s mobility landscape in 2040. The six finalists were chosen out of 20 students who participated in the competition.
The shortlisted projects include 2040 Lexus Vision In-season, a project that focuses on helping Generation Z rediscover seasonal changes in urban areas. The vehicle’s intelligent crafted roof controls the intensity of daylight coming into the interior to achieve an immersive seasonal experience. The vehicle’s colour scheme also changes with the seasons.
The next is the Lexus Crucible – a hydrogen-fuelled escape vehicle that divides itself to meet different use scenarios and contexts. It combined shared ownership with the flexibility of an owned vehicle interior, as the way people live and work will change in 2040. The interior can adapt to any configuration and could even be put inside one’s house.
The third project is Lexus ALTO – a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicle. It is a hydrogen-fuelled, pendant-style airborne vehicle described as a cloud’s earring. A cross between a plant terrarium and a hot air balloon, the top of the vehicle can be personalised like a ring, to feature different ‘stones.’ Next is Lexus UrbanSwarm, which provides a seamless way to travel with flexibility and convenience and also offers efficiency of mass transportation systems thanks to its tessellation feature in which it can link with other ‘pods’.
The fifth project is called Lexus NEKO which is inspired by Japanese culture and gets an insect-like exoskeleton. It is a BEV with sensor cameras and an intelligent recording device. It uses 4D technology for optimised ergonomics and can perform traditional Japanese bowing.
The final selected project is called Lexus #Units which explores luxury sharing space. On arrival at a destination, the vehicle can link virtually to other vehicles where it can be used as a projector device to join concerts or parties virtually. It is also highly flexible and can reduce its footprint to adapt to narrow roads.
