LA Design Challenge 2012: Highway Patrol Vehicle 2025

The LA Design Challenge has called for design studios from around the world to compete and create the ultimate law enforcement vehicle for the year 2025.

Design studios from Bentley and BMW have taken up the challenge while General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Subaru – entrants in last year's competition  – have returned in a bid to showcase their creativity and talent and be honored in this annual contest.

Our world is constantly evolving as new technologies and countries rapidly develop, and as such it creates a real challenge for law enforcement as they strive to keep pace and allow them to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

The future highway patrol vehicle needs to take in considerations such as advanced powertrains, new sizes, alternative fuels and telemetrics to tackle the challenging urban environments we can expect to see in 2025.

Chuck Pelly, Director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy Inc., says: "One of the most difficult yet important tasks in design is looking into the future to envision and create the trends and tools that haven't been imagined. Adding the element of law enforcement to this year's competition creates another layer of importance that makes a challenge equal to the level of our participants."

All entries will be unveiled online at the Los Angeles auto show website in early November, with the winning design to announced on 29 November at an event taking place during the press days. The judging panel will make their decision based on factors that include: consideration of future needs for advanced technology; speed and agility on future freeway systems; creativity of the solution; meeting a specific region's emission standards; and environmental sensitivity, including maintenance and recyclability.

Entries will be judged by Tom Matano, Executive Director, School of Industrial Design at San Francisco's Academy of Art University; Imre Molnar, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Detroit's College for Creative Studies; and Stewart Reed, Chair of Transportation Design at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design.

This year's guest judge, Bruce Meyer, is a board member of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) 11-99 Foundation, which provides emergency benefits to CHP employees and their families if needed.

The competition has evolved over the past few years, with previous years seeing it limited to West Coast studios, but last year's competition saw three different entries from Mercedes-Benz studios across the world – the German studio entered a Smart project, the Japan studio submitted a Maybach design while the San Diego studio entered the Mercedes-Benz project. This year we can see that Bentley has entered the fray, further indicating that on a global scale design studios are recognizing the importance and prominence of the LA Design Competition.

By Rufus Thompson