University of Huddersfield Degree Show 2005

Transportation Design students at England's Huddersfield University displayed their work in the annual degree show in June. The exhibition at Huddersfield University also included a display of the production model of the Toniq R sports car that has been designed and produced by former students of the Transport Design course. In late June the exhibition moved to central London. This was organised and partially funded by the final year students, to attract more design-related companies to see their work, including car/motorbike manufacturers and design agencies located in the south of England.

Matthew Kennerley presented 'Intuition', a concept aimed at learner drivers. This would primarily be purchased by driving instructors to make learning easier for the student. The concept would undercut the prices of existing learner vehicles in order to reduce the cost of lessons. The average cost of learning to drive in the UK is approximately ?600 including lessons and tests, and this deters many people from professional driving tuition.

The concept would also be available on the public market as research has shown that some people like to buy a similar vehicle to their instructors.

David Boyd presented a shared taxi concept. The project aim was to optimise road transportation to be more efficient in and around urban environments, as the most common occupancy in a car or taxi is 1.5 people. It also looked at improving lifestyles to attract people to use taxi sharing as an alternative to the car for commuting. The taxi's package was designed around London cabs, but had product influences which resulted in optimizing the interior space. The cab is divided into four individual spaces, the driver cabin, and large occupancy cabin (LOC) and two small occupancy cabins (SOC). Entrance to the LOC is on the pavement side and caters for wheelchair access and two-occupant travel with large luggage space. The rear access is the SOC which caters for one person with hand luggage space. It also has grab bars, intercoms along side interior climate controls and chip and PIN payment.

David Barrett's R-T-A Response Vehicle is designed to improve the response to road traffic accidents in urban and congested areas. The vehicle contains all the necessary equipment, including paramedic and essential fire fighting equipment. In addition to this it would be able to get to the scene faster than an ambulance or fire engine due to its size and agility. With a width of just 1200mm, a length of 3595mm and a top speed of over 115mph it can transport two highly trained crew members and all the equipment through traffic with agility that's normally associated with motorcycles. To increase stability at high speeds the equipment has been positioned to lower and centralise the vehicles centre of gravity and it has also been fitted with a vari-track system, that allows the track of the front wheels to extend by up to 300mm.

Steve Darbyshire presented Maglev PTV, a personal transport vehicle for 10-15 years from now. It utilises a combination of fuel-cell, by-wire chassis technology and magnetic-levitation. The Maglev PTV operates in much the same way as a car would today, utilising the existing road network. The key element to the concept is this combining the convenience of a conventional car with a high-speed national transportation system. The vehicle can connect to a specific guideway infrastructure, utilising a longstator linear motor and guidance magnets to propel and levitate the vehicle at a cruise speed of 300mph over long distances. This would connect London city to Glasgow in under two hours. The vehicle aesthetics were greatly influenced by the increased drag and required power output induced at this speed. It was designed using the most efficient aerodynamic shape - P. Jaray's 'combination form' - a workable compromise evolved from the half-body and teardrop configuration.

Luke Mallinder presented 2_cp (2 seat commuter product), a city-based vehicle concept inspired by product design. The exterior aesthetic takes inspiration from home electrical equipment, in that the rear portion is usually a cheaper, textured plastic moulding with the front mouldings being of higher quality. The desire for a minimal number of body panel mouldings was also an inspiration taken from product design. The modular aspect of the vehicle is manifested in a removable 'power cell' housing an electric motor and rear suspension assembly. This allows the unit to be detached for maintenance or upgrades. Element of the simple interior are also removable for increased functionality.

The Transport Design course at the University of Huddersfield offers a professional working environment with facilities including designated design studio areas, workshops, clay modelling and CAD rooms. The course has recently had a number of major car manufacturers working with the students to produce design projects, including Nissan, Land Rover, Jaguar, Ford and MG.

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