These autonomous pods are re-imagining safe public-transit by making local trams and buses smaller

Although this sense of paranoia is fairly recent, the thought of stepping into an overcrowded bus or subway should probably strike fear and panic in most of us. Imagining “Public Transport” without the word “Public” can be difficult. How do you create a mass transit system that’s bespoke, and that doesn’t involve multiple people in close proximity? And moreover, how do you manage this system while ensuring it’s beneficial to the public and safe for cities?

Those are some really tough questions, and NewDealDesign seems intent on looking for the answers. Having worked on a whole slew of smart-mobility projects, including the recently debuted ‘Serve’, an autonomous delivery robot for Postmates, the San Francisco-based company carried their wealth of research and experience into Rolla – the future of city-based mass-transit.

Rolla takes mass-transit and personalizes/isolates it. Think of something on the lines of individual ski-lifts, or cable-cars traveling on the same network… minus the cables. Designed as a cabin that moves, the Rolla is an entire network of human-sized, human-friendly pods that you can step in and step out of (another relevant example that comes to mind is that of an elevator). The Rolla has the ability to work on fixed routes like a public bus, allowing you to hail one and step in, as well as on personal routes, letting you summon a Rolla on an app. Designed for relatively short journeys, the pod allows you to stand within it as it travels to your stop.

What the Rolla gets right is its simplicity and intuitiveness. It’s a culmination and combination of familiar experiences that let you easily trust it without ‘fearing the underlying tech’. The pod feels a lot like a bus or subway, allowing you to stand within it and grab onto a handrail, while the app for bespoke journeys works quite like a cab-hailing application. The pod’s relatively open too, sort of like a tram, enabling you to hop on and hop off in a heartbeat as it autonomously travels through the city’s networks. This small size and open format not only makes the Rolla friendly and unassuming, it also makes it easy to disinfect between journeys as the pod travels through a sanitation-station between multiple trips, cleaning itself for the next passenger.

Its open and welcoming design is reinforced by an immersive and memorable experience. The almost SIM-card shape of the Rolla is instantly iconic, with expressive LED headlights on the front indicating the pod’s intent as it autonomously drives. The inside of the Rolla, however, is designed to be dynamic, with light-piping that gives the vehicle a designated color – yellow for public transport, purple for private transport, and blue for fixed private routes like within a campus. The interiors are outfitted with displays too, that tell you the route and time, welcome individual riders, and show your progress on a map for clarity.

While Rolla currently exists only as a concept, it provides a neat framework for how cities can adapt to the pandemic by providing public transit in a manner that’s safe. The individual pods can easily be deployed on a city’s roads with no additional infrastructure like stations or rails. They run on electric energy, and something as simple as solar panels could ensure that the vehicles run for longer on sustainable energy. They can operate on pre-designated bus routes too, reducing the need to plan out new routes, and given how easy it is to roll out new Rollas, the entire system of autonomous pods can easily be upgraded as cities expand!

Designer: NewDealDesign

The Quilt beacon + app create a virtual mesh network to maintain communication during disasters

The internet may fail, telecom services may get cut off, but Quilt’s virtual meshing system will help broadcast messages, distress signals, public service announcements, and crucial information anywhere, whenever needed. Quilt is an ad-hoc mesh network built by the Quilt App and Quilt Beacon. In short, it relies on multiple phones with the Quilt app installed, and multiple Quilt beacons to build its own network that operates independently of telecom companies and internet services. If you’ve got the Quilt app installed, or the Quilt beacon device in your home, you’re always alerted when there’s something that needs your attention. If it’s a flood alert, an upcoming storm, an earthquake warning, or even a fire somewhere in the neighborhood, Quilt’s own network of devices will help pass on the message to everyone, keeping them aware.

Quilt’s entire system works on two devices that help it target different users. The app works wonderfully for most people, helping them get updates and alerts on their phone, while also allowing them to request help in terms of services, supplies, or even shelter. The Quilt beacon, on the other hand, is designed more for people who are unable or unwilling to use smartphones. Targeted mainly at the elderly and the disabled, the Quilt beacon is a lot like a smart-speaker, updating you with a notification light and voice alerts, while even allowing you to talk to it to receive aid or to notify others that you’re safe. Being a part of the Quilt network, through the app or the beacon, even helps assistance reach you, whether it’s emergency services, local aid, or even governmental aid. Designed to be like a security blanket that covers the neighborhood (hence the name Quilt), this virtual network works without fail, since it doesn’t depend on a company or any expensive hardware. Instead, it pools in resources by connecting multiple devices together, emblematic of how a society or a neighborhood should really function.

Quilt currently exists as a concept created by New Deal Design, although the project is currently in its research and development phase. The studio is actively looking for partners, both private and public, to help lay the groundwork so we can unite and respond to the next emergency situation with efficiency to save as many lives as possible.

Designer New Deal Design

The Spot A.I. Camera is like Google Lens for children who are curious about the world

The Spot comes with a camera, a pico-projector, artificial intelligence, and the answer to every child’s perpetual string of “what”, “why”, and “how” questions about the world around them. Designed to be the magnifying glass to everything that makes up their immediate world, this handheld devices encourages creativity, promotes the asking of questions, and turns everyday imagery into stories to educate and fascinate children.

Spot fulfills the role of a toy, encyclopedia, and bedtime-storybook, all in a single handheld device. The camera allows children to capture objects, living things, and phenomena around them, while inbuilt A.I. helps children understand what they are by using optics, object recognition and machine learning. The in-built AI weaves explanations into storylike narratives, pushing the child to be empathetic, curious, and at the same time, get answers to every question they have. The Spot’s design combines tech and toy-design too, with a toyish form factor made up of simple geometric shapes, and the use of materials like wood and colorful plastic trims.

The rather noticeable lack of a screen comes with reason too. Spot fosters a natural form of interaction, getting children to learn by voice, rather than consume content by screens, icons, and apps. Introducing children to powerful technologies like object recognition and information dissemination, Spot takes the more natural route of being quite similar to the way a parent answers a child’s burgeoning questions about the world around them. By promoting curiosity and involvement, Spot battles the ‘Distraction Economy’ at a crucial stage of development. “Being ‘present’ and ‘in-the-moment’ is a skill that can be taught”, says Gadi Amit, founder of New Deal Design, and Spot elicits excitement and joy in the little things in life, be it a bird, a beehive, or even a potted plant. At the end of the day, Spot ties together all the objects it identified into a unique narrative, turning them all into a bedtime story that the device projects onto the child’s wall via the pico-projector, reinforcing everything they saw and learnt during the day, as well as enchanting them with the possibility of seeing new things tomorrow!

Designer: New Deal Design

YD JOB ALERT: NewDealDesign is looking for an Industrial Designer to join their team!

NewDealDesign, founded and headed by Gadi Amit, has always been on our watchlist for creating some of the most game-changing products for practically household companies. NewDealDesign helped design the first Lytro camera, a large part of Fitbit’s product catalog, and even created the blueprint for Google’s modular Project Ara phone! The company, for long, has had an obsession with the intersection between design and technology, and has shaped how we perceive these new, revolutionary technologies by literally designing around them, to make them beautiful, useful, and human-centric. NewDealDesign is looking for a passionate design-loving, tech-loving Industrial Designer to join their team in San Francisco, California.

THE OPPORTUNITY

We are NewDealDesign, an award-winning technology design firm and the 2013 National Design Award honoree. With over 100 awards under our belt, we work on the coolest projects in tech, from advance concept assignments with industry giants to the latest creations for hot start-ups. We team industrial, graphic and interaction designers with strategists and engineers to create delightful objects and experiences. Come and join us!

NewDealDesign is looking for a passionate and talented Industrial Designer to join our downtown San Francisco office. This is an outstanding hands-on opportunity to contribute and grow with a leading design firm.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contribute a creatively adventurous outlook to bring bold, new ideas to the table.

• Deliver a sophisticated aesthetic approach that balances an understanding of user experience and an awareness of emerging trends.

• Convey a personal commitment to hard work and effective time management.

• Collaborate proactively within multi-disciplinary teams to generate innovative solutions appropriate to the project needs.

• Support project communications with proficiency in presentation techniques and a strong attention to detail.

• Create form studies and prototypes with confidence in working with your hands.

• Build 3D CAD models to support form development, design detailing, and prototyping.

• Understand the value of color, materials, and finishes as it applies to product design.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design or equivalent.

• Must have 1-3 years of recent and very relevant industrial design experience.

• Competency in relevant digital tools – Adobe CC, 3D CAD, rendering software.

• Excellent hand sketching and form development skills.

• Great problem solving and communication skills.

• International candidates must have a valid United States permanent resident visa.

• Must have a portfolio that showcases a thoughtful creative process (sketches and models).

LOCATION

San Francisco (California), USA.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

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