Challenge

As part of our Future of Mobility series, we identified a flaw in the shared digital ride-hailing business model: think Uber Pool, where there are often empty seats on journeys because customers aren’t willing to share their commute space so intimately with strangers.

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Insights

Quarter Car is a mobility concept which envisions the future of the digital ride-hailing economy and shared transport through a personalised, autonomous travel experience. The vehicle is a fully autonomous and battery electric car which uses clean energy to operate in between urban and suburban environments, representing the emergence of next generation ride-hailing with the potential to maximise profitability and efficiency of commercial vehicles.

The design isn’t so much concerned with the aerodynamics of the exterior, but rather shifting our mindset on the concept of efficiency by looking at other metrics such as ecological production methods, sustainable material content, daily usage per person, the quality of ride experience.

Quarter Car has no front as it is symmetrical and therefore can drive in either direction.

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Outcome

The space is defined by retractable partitions through two central axes of the vehicle. These allow the segmentation of the interior into four individual and sellable ‘spaces’, giving service providers the ability to address the needs of a variety of passengers simultaneously within one vehicle.

The impact of these dividers is huge. It radicalises the business metrics of ride-hailing companies whilst also changing the urban environment for the better by taking large quantities of vehicles off the road: all the while vastly improving passenger experience.