Design Contest: NDA wins 2009 LA Design Challenge

A future where environmentalists and car enthusiasts - not to mention sober-minded adults and thrill-seeking young people - all coexist in harmony just might be possible with Nissan's V2G concept vehicle.

The hypothetical design study, which runs on a futuristic grid of electric roadways but can also be customized for 'off grid' joy riding, won the 2009 LA Auto Show Design Challenge for the way it embodies this year's 'Youthmobile 2030' theme. The focus was to create vehicles that would appeal to a generation of young drivers raised on cell phones and social media.

Picking a winner wasn't easy, said Stuart Reed, chair of transportation design at the Art Center College of Design, while presenting the award to Nissan's young design team at the close of the Los Angeles Auto Show's second press preview day. Audi, General Motors, Honda, Mazda and Toyota also submitted design studies for consideration.

"Every single one of these proposals was just dripping with ideas," Reed said, after joking about how odd it was that "four older guys" had to pick a future "youthmobile." Reed was one of the four judges, along with Tom Matano, director of industrial design at the Academy of Art University, Imre Molnar, Dean of the College for Creative Studies, and Jason Hill, principal at Design by Eleven.

Nissan designers Stephen Moneypenny, Ryan Campbell, Satoru Hasegawa, Hanu Yoo, and Randy Rodriguez devised a single-seat vehicle reminiscent of the 'light cycle' from the Tron movie franchise. Two forward arms provide the link to a standardized roadway grid powered by electricity. Manufacturers like Nissan would become "GRID-mobility providers," giving different levels of access to the grid through various mobility plans, much like cell phone service providers.

Drivers not content with the sterile driving experience in appliance-like vehicles would swap the front arms on the V2G for a set of wheels, creating the V2G (UNLMTD), which could drive on the "under-utilized off-GRID highway system" and create a new generation of rebel hot-rodders.

The Nissan V2G envisions a plausible - if still far-fetched - scenario for future mobility that is both environmentally conscientious and automated, yet doesn't negate the possibility for self expression, or even good-natured hell raising - both of which are hallmarks of youth.

Other contributors to the Nissan V2G project include Ann Ngo, research, Ray Devers, color and materials, Derek Millsap and Matt Wilson, digital design, and James Cronin and Don Sondys, visualization.

For more information on the 2009 Design Challenge entries, go to www.laautoshow.com/DC09/.

Related Article:
2009 LA Design Challege - Entrants announced

By Matthew DePaula