Auto 2030: Living Room On Wheels

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

Cars in 2030 will have four wheels as usual and will certainly not float over the streets with a hand's breadth of air under the floor of the car. Nevertheless, researchers anticipate radical changes that we can look forward to: Cars should become much more comfortable.

By Christoph Walter

The children made themselves comfortable on the couch with mom. The father is sitting in the armchair next to it with the remote control in his hand. This vision of the future does not take place in the living room, but in the car. In a car that would be conceivable in 2030, according to design professor Peter Naumann from the Munich University of Applied Sciences.

Not only the steering wheel and peals are missing

His student Matze Steuer drew the draft for it. Except for the four wheels, the visionary car has little in common with today's cars. The driver sits at the back, the passengers on a sofa facing the direction of travel. Switches, pedals and a steering wheel are missing, as are seat belts. But all of this is no coincidence: For the sketch, developments that have long been used in automotive engineering were consistently thought through.

“Let's take the networked car as an example,” says Naumann, referring to research in the vehicle industry on so-called car-to-car and car-to-X communication. It is about the exchange of data between vehicles and with the traffic infrastructure. The interaction of sensors on vehicles, traffic lights and signs and of driver assistance systems such as distance controllers and automatic emergency brakes could soon make traffic accidents a thing of the past. "And then seat belts, airbags or seats with pronounced lateral guidance built into the direction of travel are superfluous," explains Naumann.

Drivers are relieved

"Cars may have to carry less ballast with them because the vision of accident-free driving is no longer a vision," adds Mercedes-Benz design chief Gorden Wagener. As a result, the developers would have much more leeway in terms of design and choice of materials. This becomes clear, for example, in the research vehicle F 125 !, which the Stuttgart-based company presented at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in September.

"Automatic driving functions will increasingly relieve the driver," predicts Prof. Jürgen Leohold, Head of Research at the VW Group. According to Naumann, this could give car occupants new freedoms: "Surf the Internet, read books, eat and play together - a lot is conceivable." The car could be transformed from a means of transport into a living room on wheels.

No longer recognizable as a car

From today's perspective, some mobiles will no longer be recognizable as cars, Naumann believes. He is thinking in particular of automated and emission-free taxis in cities. The Chevrolet EN-V (Electric Networked Vehicle) study, which was presented in 2010, fits into this category.

In the meantime, Chevrolet is rapidly advancing the development of the single-axle two-seater, according to its own statements. The electrically powered EN-V manages without a driver, but can also be controlled manually. (dpa / tmn)