Pininfarina reveals top design students' concepts of the future

Mahindra Group-owned Italian design house Pininfarina has revealed a new exhibition of concept car designs by some of Europe’s top design students.

On Board Emotions showcases the results of a workshop with students from four top design schools, who sought to create vehicles that looked at the future of the car, incorporating on-board emotions and how the car’s interior may one day interact with the outside world.

Of course, these ideas will never reach production: they’re flights of fancy, exploring particular ideas and aspects of car design - much in the way haute couture relates to high street fashion.

The schools involved are Istituto d’Arte Applicata e Design (IAAD) and Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Italy, l'Institut Supérieur de Design Rubika (ISDR) in France and Umeå Institute of Design (UID) in Sweden.

Below is a gallery tour of some of the cars created. You can see the designs in more detail at the Borgo Medievale in Turin from 7 to 12 June.

PROTEO

Created by IAAD’s Philip Arno Beller, Andrea Campagnolo and Alessio Zanelli Bono – all transportation design students –  the Proteo was inspired by the Greek god of the sea and the constantly changing nature of water. The concept uses electric impulses to modify the shape of the interior, much in the way that 3D printing is being developed into 4D printing: possessing the ability to print projects that change shape or self-assemble over time.

LEGAME

The Legame is a city car conceived to amplify the senses of those that use it as they move through the environment. One side houses a bench to allow people to sit on it and enjoy their surroundings, while the plain interior has been designed to be free from distractions away from the outside world. A mobile app allows users to call the car towards them. Legame was created by three IAAD students – Morgana Agnusdei, Giuseppe Iuliano and Francesco Pescador.

MOLLY

Another product of IAAD students, the Molly is described as a virtual assistant. It’s an autonomous vehicle designed to foster a sense of security, with an interior that has a homely atmosphere but with complete freedom of movement. It was designed by Michelangelo Bondini, Giacomo Brondolin, Andrea Castiglione and Vito Cusumano.

INDIVIDUALE

The final IAAD student entry is the Individuale, which boasts both autonomous and manual modes and is designed to "amplify the pleasure of driving". The car is made up of two main parts, one for the cockpit and the other for the motor, and drives in two modes. The relax mode lowers the cab while the driving mode raising the cockpit for better visibility. The designers are Andrea Ortile, Gabriele Rizzi, Marco Zafferana, Francesco Palumbo, Alessio Coci and Andrea Costa.

ENTITY AND COMPANION

The Entity is a car designed for long distances, designed by Israeli IED student Igal Shenderey. It’s an autonomous vehicle featuring a large glass roof called the Sky Dome. It also features a second pushchair-sized vehicle for babies, called the Companion, which operates independently or fits inside the Entity.

A-CRAFT

According to its creators, IED students Kaihang Huang and Salvatore Ville, the A-Craft explores the relationship between mobility and functionality for travellers who “care about emotional and sensorial experience” during long trips. The vehicle has three segments for different passenger requirements – a private space, a semi-public space and a public space. It also features seats that levitate using electromagnets, a flexible floor for storage and a 3D map.

BIPOLARI

This ISDR design is a reaction to a future where people feel frustrated at the overarching control of machines. The Bipolari is an autonomous vehicle during the day, but at night it changes into something more suited to racing. It was designed by Timothée Seban, Maxime Lefevbre, Kewin Sebastien, Julien Quiring, Jordan Zingang-Divet and Antoine Vandekerckhove.

LA PROTEZIONE MATERNA

In a stressful world full of on-road aggression, this vehicle is designed to make the choice over the driver’s suitability to take control. If the car decides its pilot is suitably relaxed, the car becomes motorcycle-like for sporty driving. Otherwise, it morphs into an armchair-like position to calm down its stressed occupant. It was designed by ISD Rubika students Julien Fesquet, Cyrille Kirket, Adrian Godin-Bernard, Léon-Georges Not and Marius Torterat.

DUALITA

The Dualita is the solution for the businessman or woman called away for months at a time, combining accommodation and autonomous transportation in one solution. The vehicle docks with a tower and becomes the apartment’s balcony, while in motion it becomes a place to relax after a long day at work. The designers, from UID, are Kishenkumar Patel, Martin Engberg, Raul Salas, Viljami Rosinen and Siddharth Hirwani.

GALLERIA

The designers of the Galleria imagine a future where autonomous vehicles can be rented, with adaptable interiors developed with different museums, artists, designers and architects. Art on the move? That’s the vision of UID's Ben Lee, Moritz Seifert, Karl Marteliusson and Akansha Aggarwal.

This vehicle imagines a future where cars are branding opportunities. X is a platform for brands to badge as their own, and its designers, from UID, imagined three possibilities: a fashion brand that wants to create a privileged experience for customers, a restaurant that wants their guests to enjoy food on the move around the city and an airline company that wants to offer top level comfort to VIP guests. The designers are Siyuan Fang, Dominique Quinger, Xingyu Yang and Aylin Alpay.

X

This vehicle imagines a future where cars are branding opportunities. X is a platform for brands to badge as their own, and its designers, from UID, imagined three possibilities: a fashion brand that wants to create a privileged experience for customers, a restaurant that wants their guests to enjoy food on the move around the city and an airline company that wants to offer top level comfort to VIP guests. The designers are Siyuan Fang, Dominique Quinger, Xingyu Yang and Aylin Alpay.