2014 Michelin Challenge Design finalists announced

Mon, 23 Sep 2013

Michelin has announced the 15 finalists of the 2014 Michelin Challenge Design, themed ‘Driven/Undriven: The Duality of Tomorrow's Automobile'. Their work will be showcased in January at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

A judging panel of automotive designers and industry experts selected individuals and teams from Italy, China, South Korea, Finland, Serbia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Guatemala from over 900 registrants from 74 countries.

From these 15, the top three finalists will be invited to attend the show as guests of Michelin and be recognized during Michelin's private Designer's Reception.

The 2014 Michelin Challenge Design asked participants to explore the human-to-vehicle connection and how it could evolve car design.

The finalists of the 2014 Michelin Challenge Design are:

Ludovico Campana, Seunghun Jeong – Italy Chuang Dong, Zhen Qiu, Haowen Deng – China Takbeom Heogh – South Korea Do hyung Kim, San hyun Eom, San sung Moon – South Korea Da-eun Lee – South Korea Jungu Lee – South Korea Chris Luchowiec – Poland Marko Lukovic – Serbia Fernando Machado – Brazil Dong-woo Nam – South Korea Amadou Ba Ndiaye – Canada Ramon Ramirez Perez – Mexico Cristian Polanco – Guatemala Kyoung-duck Ryu – South Korea Sun Zongheng – China

Stewart Reed, Michelin Challenge Design jury chairman and chair of the Transportation Design Department, Art Center College of Design, said, "The topic of autonomy will bring maybe the most freedom yet in the use of personal and public transport. Some would say that autonomous vehicles are in fact the mass transit of the future.

"Imagine a lot of autonomous vehicles clustered together and actually moving as a single larger vehicle, much like a school of fish will cluster and take on the shape of a larger fish to protect themselves. So we saw some great proposals from students and designers all over the world that suggested a bio-mimicry approach to autonomy."

Check out the gallery at the top right for more project images.

By Rufus Thompson