BMW and Local Motors join forces for latest contest

BMW and Local Motors have come together to launch the Urban Driving Experience Challenge, which launches on 25 September.

The contest challenges designers to create the premium vehicle features and functions that will shape the urban driving experience in 2025 and beyond. The Mega Cities of the future will offer a number a new challenges for the automotive industry, such as increasing urbanization, rapid population growth, changing infrastructures and environmental pollution.

$30,000 in prize money will be awarded while the top winners for each phase will get the chance to head to BMW's Munich headquarters to meet the director of research and development, Dr Klaus Draeger.

Phase one of the competition begins on 25 September – when a full brief and video will be available – and ends on 16 October, with phase two beginning in mid-November.

Details are fairly scarce for the moment, but check out the Urban Driving Experience Challenge website and the video on the left to help get your creative juices flowing.

By Rufus Thompson