Custom Bugatti RV and other concepts show what the supercar’s DNA would look like across categories

Personally, Bugatti has the most distinctly beautiful product DNA. I remember seeing the Veyron for the first time and falling instantly in love… a feeling that’s somehow sustained across a whole variety of models even up to the Mistral which debuted just last year. There’s something absolutely captivating about its design, its proportions, and its eclectic use of curves and edgy lines. However, Bugatti’s never really gone beyond the hypercar realm… which makes me wonder, what if the French automotive company made more than just hypercars? Would that DNA work well across different automotive categories? An account that goes by the name FLYBYARTIST shared these stellar AI-generated images of what Bugatti automobiles would look like in different avatars, and to be absolutely honest, it absolutely confirms my hunch. There’s something truly spectacular about the car’s visual language, and even translating it to an ATV, RV, or van doesn’t diminish its appeal. If anything, I’ll say I like it even more!

Designer: FLYBYARTIST

The Bugatti ATV just feels like something that a custom automobile maker absolutely needs to create. The image above (and the one further above it) show what a Bugatti all-terrain vehicle would look like, and it feels as if Mad Max were just a tad bit posh. Sure, you make some sacrifices with AI-generated images (symmetry is often the first of those), but these renders look absolutely bonkers. You’ve got a car that’s unapologetically Bugatti, featuring all the classics like the horseshoe grill and even the C-shaped pillar, but with larger tires, a reinforced chassis, and what look like monstrous air intakes right below the headlights. The first image is bordering into monster truck territory, but its ground clearance puts it firmly in the ATV camp.

The next explorations we have are a little larger. Looking like RVs but made for an apocalyptic desert-city, these ones aren’t to be messed with. The image above is perhaps the most well-rendered, with a fair bit of symmetry. The AI also grasps design concepts like the C-shaped cutout near the red panel at the back, and those Chiron headlights definitely look like they belong. The RV below feels like a signature AI image. It lacks symmetry around the headlights, but the vehicle itself is rather remarkable. It’s more spacious, feeling almost like a semi-truck, although that door looks a little too high-placed for my liking.

Next we’ve got a Bugatti van. What would it even be used for? Cops or paramilitary, perhaps. Although my gut instinct is to think of it as a luxury UPS-style delivery van, there’s no way I’d expect the rear of that vehicle to store something as benign as carton boxes. Bugattis are domination machines, and there’s nothing dominating about a cardboard box. I’d rather see a crew of law enforcers with riot gear sitting inside.

Not all vehicles need to be trucks and RVs, some of them can be good old hypercars too! This one feels like a modern classic that combines the Bolide, Divo, and Chiron together. The one below amps things up a little more by playing with form and aerodynamics, but it makes tradeoffs in the symmetry department.

Our last two explorations look at edge-cases. On the top, you’ve got a logistical truck, designed for carrying cargo, while the lower image feels like some sort of tourism vehicle with exposed sides that allow passengers to look at the city around them. The cargo truck is a heavy-set vehicle with dual rear wheels for carrying maximum load, and an armor-like design that feels like it could cut through obstacles like a knife through butter. The lower exploration, on the flipside, creates a more luxurious ambiance. Glossy black paint job, golden trims, a liberal use of red for the interiors, giving the passengers a literal red carpet treatment… this is just the kind of vehicle you’d find in a Saudi prince’s home, escorting guests from one wing of the palace to the other!

Check out more of FLYBYARTIST’s work on his Instagram.

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This Level 5 autonomy electric semi-truck is what Tesla Semi could have looked like!

A Level 5 autonomy electric truck with a peculiar trailer design highlighted by the humungous set of sole rear wheels which provide superior grip on the road at high speeds. Of course, there are some shortcomings of this ideation but I love the overall visual appeal.

Electric semi-trucks developed by companies like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Daimler, Nikola Motors, Ford, and Tesla are paving way for the future of freight trucking across the globe. Some of them even have autonomous mobility dreams, and eventually, we’ll see such semi-trucks speeding past us on the freeway. Joining in on the race to develop fully autonomous semi-trucks is this concept design by Roman Dolzhenko in collaboration with industrial designer Dmitry Voronezhtsev.

The electric tractor christened ATLANTIS is going to have Level 5 autonomy with no compartment for the driver or any human intervention. This will be highly useful in hauling time-sensitive cargo to pre-defined destinations, completely taking the human intervention out of the equation. The electric truck has a very out-of-the-box design which looks nothing like we’ve seen so far. Even the Volvo Vera, Tesla Semi, or the Ford F-Vision look a tad ordinary in comparison to this one. Something relatable to this ultra-futuristic design is the conceptual Polestar 10-wheeler modular trailer or the Tesla Autonomous E-Rig semi concept design.

The reason, this fully autonomous electric semi has a huge rig with even bigger wheels right on the rear. In fact, they are as big as the trailer. On the road, these wheels move independently to the tractor pulling it up ahead, which also has a set of independently moving wheels to maneuver the turns and tight spaces for practicality. The ride height of the trailer is not high enough for it to tread the uneven terrains and the sole set of big wheels poses another challenge for flexibility on banked roads or swapping it with another set of wheels in case the existing ones go rouge. That’s clear indicative, the ATLANTIS is envisioned for freeways just like the Road Trains operational in Australia!

Designer: Roman Dolzhenko and Dmitry Voronezhtsev

The post This Level 5 autonomy electric semi-truck is what Tesla Semi could have looked like! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Faraday Future semi-truck concept makes autonomous vehicles more responsible, communicative, and modular.





Designed and visualized by Daniel Pokorný (with the video above by Darek Zahálka), the Faraday Future semi-truck presents a pretty novel direction for autonomous vehicles in general. The semi-truck comes with a set of hardware as well as AI upgrades that allow it to be a force to reckon with. Powered by artificial intelligence, the trucks have level-5 autonomy, requiring no humans to drive/control/regulate the vehicle when it’s on the roads. However, in Pokorný’s world, the vehicle isn’t just smart enough to drive on its own, it’s smart enough to communicate with people/vehicles on the road too.

Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the Faraday Future semi-truck is its front panel which features a dynamic display that lights up either with Faraday Future’s logo, or can transform into signs, PSAs, advertisements. The front panel also allows the semi-truck to communicate with people around it, letting them know of the truck’s intentions, whether it’s slowing down, making a turn, etc.

That versatile display on the front really gives the Faraday Future semi a wide range of capabilities, that are further enabled by the truck’s ability to operate autonomously. Capable of doing much more than just lifting and transporting cargo, the truck can help aid the city’s public utilities by rerouting traffic, displaying messages, traveling to specific locations with special cargo (like an ambulance or a fire-truck), and providing services for private companies like logistics as well as advertising.

The truck’s AI works as a hive-mind too, allowing multiple trucks to cooperate together for better efficiency. While this ability easily allows multiple trucks to communicate with and work alongside each other on a container yard or a loading bay, it also allows trucks to collaborate by forming a chain-link of multiple trucks, with one truck leading the way and the others behind following like carriages. A pretty unique feature for autonomous vehicles, it gives the vehicles modularity, allowing them to effectively expand their storage, just by lining up additional trucks behind one other. It also helps dramatically reduce drag, allowing subsequent trucks to travel with much lower energy consumption, making transportation of cargo much more energy efficient.

Needless to say, Pokorný’s views on transportation and autonomy are pretty interesting. Rather than having a vehicle that’s a one-trick pony, Pokorný leverages the power of AI to give one truck a versatile set of use-cases… beyond just transporting goods. While the Faraday Future semi-truck is currently just a fan-made concept, it does present an extremely interesting and diverse future for cities, citizens, businesses, and for the automotive industry!

Designer: Daniel Pokorný

This autonomous Tesla HGV brings ultra-futurism to Elon’s semi dreams

A  Tesla semi-truck with a very Tesla-worthy aesthetics highlighted by the contoured yet sharp design language that in a way reminds me of the iPhone 12!

Tesla’s visionary Semi all-electric truck powered by four independent motors on the rear is scheduled for production in 2022. The semi is touted to be the safest, most comfortable truck with an acceleration of 0-60 mph in just 20 seconds and a range of 300-500 miles. While the prototype version looks absolutely badass, how the final version will look is anybody’s guess.

Industrial and transport designer Jeremy Dodd takes the vision of the Tesla heavy goods vehicle to the next level with the Tesla Autonomous E-Rig semi. This ultra-futuristic Tesla concept identifies the basic problem with HGVs that have an average speed of 50 mph, and have to drive for virtually 9 hours of the day, 5 days a week. This creates an environmental impact, and a pure, purposeful and functional method of hauling heavy goods is the need of the hour. This Autonomous trailer in a way is destined to solve this with even more to make it highly useful.

The HGV has an extendable extension to adapt to the needs of the client, the geographic location, and the nature of the cargo to be hauled. The driving cockpit’s top and the bay of the trailer are solar powered to charge the battery reserve on the go. Further, the regenerative braking system recycles energy from the wheels to the turbines to add to the power reserve.

Tesla Autonomous E-Rig is designed keeping in mind the future of transportation – as the road space is going to get even more cramped. That’s why it has a zero turning radius on all the wheels to make sharp turns or maneuver around in tight spaces without much hassle. There’s just one shortcoming though, it can only haul cargo on top of the trailer, and adding the option to have an enclosed rig will increase its utility ten folds!

Designer: Jeremy Dodd

Tesla x SpaceX crossover semi-truck concept helps transport rocket parts and crew

Elon is having a pretty great month. He just became a billionaire, the Tesla stock prices are arguably the highest they’ve ever been, he’s got a battery-showcase event coming up soon, he’s hot off the success of multiple rocket launches and retrievals over the past few months, and he’s all set to demonstrate a working prototype of his brain-computer interface Neuralink on Friday. This Tesla SpaceX Semi-Truck concept builds on Musk’s incredible legacy.

Created by automotive designer Alex Baldini Imnadze, the SpaceTruck is a concept created as a dream collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. Unlike Tesla’s original semi-truck, the SpaceTruck is more situation-specific, designed to transport rocket parts and the Dragon crew around and between facilities. Citing Syd Mead as his primary source of inspiration, Baldini says the SpaceTruck was created as an effort to embrace ‘Astro-design’, creating a vehicle that visually represented the space-age we’re currently in. The SpaceTruck’s design language mimics the Dragon Crew Capsule, with a similar white and black color-combination. Needless to say the truck is entirely powered by an electric drive-train, and features a cockpit that sits above all the machinery, jutting out too, to slightly resemble the SpaceX astronaut helmet. Unusually shaped doors allow you to enter and exit the cockpit, while it would be pretty safe to assume that the vehicle does come with some level of autonomy too. The SpaceTruck concept’s wheels boast of a rim-design inspired by the Dragon Crew Capsule too.

A pretty low ground-clearance indicates that the SpaceTruck is made for mostly in-facility transport, allowing crew to get from place to place, while also allowing crucial parts to be transported within different wings of the facility. Pretty neat, eh?!

Designer: Alex Baldini Imnadze

The Gruzovikus is an ‘intelligent’ freightliner truck that transports cargo without a driver

Without context, if you looked at the Gruzovikus, your first instinct would be to wonder why its cockpit is so slim. You’d then notice that the Gruzovikus has no doors… or windows. The Gruzovikus doesn’t need a driver, because it IS the driver. Designed by Art Lebedev Studio, this freight-carrying semi-truck comes with an incredibly slim profile, and is fully autonomous i.e., it doesn’t need a driver operating it, even remotely.

The lack of a designer really informs the Gruzovikus’ design process. It has NO cockpit, allowing it to be a whole lot slimmer than most trucks. It literally looks like a horizontal ‘L’, if you look at its side profile! The absence of a cockpit allows the Gruzovikus to take on a much more streamlined, aerodynamic front, with a single vertical screen that houses all of the truck’s sensors and computers. The slimmer front allows the bed at the back to be longer, giving the truck much more stability as its front axle also bears an equal portion of the load. The Gruzovikus still comes equipped with headlights and taillights that help the truck be visible to pedestrians and drivers around it, conforming to current transportation standards… and naturally, it’s all-electric!

Designer: Art Lebedev Studio

Hyundai’s new hydrogen-powered truck will give the Tesla Semi a run for its money

I’ll admit I do have a tendency to speak in hyperbole, but this time I’m making an exception only because Hyundai’s truck shows ‘truckloads’ of promise. I’m talking clean energy-burning, hydrogen-fuel-cell powered, autonomous driving, zero emissions, zero noise semi-truck with an ergonomic design that looks splendid from the outside and provides a stunning panoramic view on the inside. I love my cushy desk-job, but damn, if I had a chance to be a trucker with a Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune, I’d probably give it all up in a heartbeat.

Inspired by the aesthetic of the 1936 Mercury Train, Hyundai’s latest semi concept channels the art-deco beauty of the machine, giving it a suitable revival in the form of a sufficiently advanced truck capable of wowing people. The HDC-6 Neptune relooks the semi-truck typology by redesigning it around Hyundai’s zero-emission fuel-cell technology. The truck features a panoramic cockpit with a skylight that offers an incredible amount of sunlight during the day, giving the interiors a rather glamping-inspired touch. The truck comes with autonomous driving capabilities, allowing the driver to kick back and watch movies on a HUD built right into the truck’s windshield, or take relaxation to another level with the shape-shifting cabin that comes with two levels. As impressive as the insides are (enough to make me consider switching jobs), the exterior is just as wowing. The truck’s glass top is balanced with a seamless grille at the base that runs from end to end, helping with cooling. The truck uses hydrogen fuel technology that burns to release water-vapor, making the truck have zero emissions, while its bullet-shaped streamlined design helps improve fuel economy… and the cherry on the cake is definitely those shape-shifting rims on the wheels that help further air-intake!

Designer: Hyundai

Waymo hires former Anki staff to lead its self-driving trucks

Anki's robotic toy business is no more, but the expertise behind it might live on. Waymo has hired 13 of Anki's robotics experts to head its self-driving truck efforts. The recruits include Anki co-founder Boris Sofman as well as five engineers wit...