The typology of our cars has not changed for decades: four wheels, a passenger cockpit, usually with four seats and four doors, an engine, a trunk. But is this form really still relevant and contemporary in metropolitan regions after 100 years of automotive history? Can we emancipate ourselves from old patterns and define new design criteria for a future “citymobile” that is better adapted to the needs of users and our future cities?
Having examined the need for a nature-inspired "just-in-time system" in our last blog article, we now devote ourselves to the vehicle itself, using our biomimicry approach to look for inspiration in nature for new, multifunctional vehicle concepts and structures. What structures are used in nature in order to pack and transport biological cargo? How are encapsulated contents released, and what are the mechanisms that regulate these processes? Interestingly, in doing so, we again and again encounter certain geometries: structures that are formed from triangles. For example, the icosahedron (one of the five Platonic solids), an object consisting of 20 equilateral triangles. Several kinds of virus store their genetic information in structures like this. Some plants also use it for their buds or pollen. The reason is that triangles are extremely stable yet use little material.
The mimivirus, one of the largest known viruses, is able to release its genetic material through a star-shaped opening known as a stargate, a mechanism similar to that seen when the flowers of the waxplant (hoya) open. From this we have developed our “stargate idea": a vehicle in the form of an icosahedron that can be opened in a star shape on both sides. This mechanism enables it to be physically interlinked with a second vehicle, so that in theory as many as desired can be combined to form a temporary collective means of transportation. This enables a dynamic link between individual and public transportation: for transit on a main road the vehicles are coupled together and therefore need much less space than cars today. In order to drive to individual destinations, they simply split up again.
The interesting aspect alongside inspiration at the design and functional level is the transfer of a further systemic concept from nature: emergence, or in Aristotle’s words "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." Suddenly the wall of a vehicle is transformed into a door, and after being coupled becomes a wall again, in the train that has been created. The original two-seater becomes more than twice as big. Instead of 2 + 2 = 4, there is suddenly space for 6 persons. This is a complete recalculation of the car: 2 + 2 = 6.
Nature provides further approaches: Does a car have to consist of rigid material, or can we use flexible membranes and pliable elements in future that make new functions, appearance and behavior possible? Biological examples of this can be found everywhere. The opening and closing cells (stomata) of plants, for example, the pores that regulate the exchange of gas, have diverse shapes depending on water content. Or the sea raft (velella), a marine creature which uses flexible structures in order to be driven by the wind. Can we employ similar strategies in order to give our cars a new look, but also to integrate new functions? The car of the future will definitely not look like the bud of a plant. Yet we should question our old paradigms in order to grow with the challenges of the future.
