Citroën seems to have it the nail on the head by calling its Ami One a ‘disruptive all-electric object’, and not a car. Barely 2.5 meters long, the Ami One stems from an idea that traveling is an activity, and a car should only be as permanent as the need of that activity. The video above makes a pretty bold claim by saying that YOU choose how long you want (to rent) your car. Five minutes, five hours, five days…months , or even five years. This sounds like a gimmick, but think about the fact that there are people who book taxis and ubers or take public transport, versus people who own cars. While one demographic focuses on the trip, the other focuses on ownership. The ability to own/rent the Ami One based on your needs or your belief system easily appeals to everyone.
The Ami One positions itself as a need-based vehicle that can cater to both car-owners as well as people who would otherwise opt for public transport. If that wide approach wasn’t enough, Citroën claims that (according to European legislation) the Ami One can be driven without a licence by people as young as 16 year olds, opening the Ami One to youngsters as well as foreigners or people without licenses. With a maximum speed of 28mph (it isn’t built for speed), the Citroën is a four-wheel equivalent of riding an electric bicycle, making it relatively safer than your regular four-wheeled speed demon, while also justifying the fact that it can be driven without a license. The car’s rental system ties itself to your smartphone. Scan a barcode and the car is yours. In fact the phone even extends to become your car’s dashboard, with a dedicated slot to place it in. The Ami One even packs a wireless charging surface for your smartphone for good measure.
The Ami One comes with an incredibly compact design (ideal for two passengers) and a zero-emission, zero-sound electric drive. With an aesthetic that’s edgy yet friendly, futuristic yet realistic, the Ami One is an unabashed people-pleaser. Citroën imagines a future where cities will be abuzz with these small, safe, and useful-to-all NEVs, and is all set to debut the car… ahem… disruptive all-electric object at the Geneva Motor Show next month!
Designer: Citroën
Looking like something either out of a videogame or a movie about videogames, this is MCLExtreme, an amped-up vision of what a fully-electric F1 will look like in 2050, courtesy McLaren.
Sparing literally no detail, and quite literally painting an incredible picture in the process, McLaren’s vision for 2050 has quite a few interesting predictions. A completely electric drivetrain is a given, considering Formula One’s gradual drift towards it. The cars won’t just be electric, they’ll charge wirelessly too. The track will supply power to the cars at strategic intervals as they drive in circles. However, where it gets interesting is that McLaren says that in order to charge effectively, drivers will have to slow down to gather more energy. Drive slow and you charge more, drive fast and you save time. The concept of the pit-stop doesn’t exist in 2050 either. The car’s tires will be crafted from a much more durable and self-repairing material that makes them last longer and eventually repair over time, therefore never needing replacing.
The cars themselves will be able to morph as you drive too. The car will morph to grow wider at corners, allowing them to grip the road better and stay stable, but will grow narrower on longer, straight stretches, giving them the aerodynamics they need. Formula 1 will retain the closed-cockpit design, especially since these cars will come with the capacity to reach top speeds of 500km/h. However, to retain the human element that would get lost by enclosing the driver in a covered cockpit, McLaren’s even designed an emotion-sensing bodysuit that connects the driver to the lighting units in the car’s wheels. As drivers get aggressive and angry, the car wheels will turn red, and when the drivers remain collected and calm, the wheels shine blue. This allows fans to feel emotionally engaged and invested in the F1 experience, retaining the overall addictive, entertainment element of the sport. Sounds like an extremely far-fetched vision of the future, but remember that the world could be an entirely different place 30 years from now!
Designer: McLaren
