Sometimes design firms are commissioned to do concept work that never sees the light of day. As one example, Berlin-based agency XOIO was asked by Daimler to envision future mobility scenarios. The project yielded few images and is only published on XOIO's site, but I find these two shots, depicting "the inner city distribution of goods" in Paris in 2036, really rich with ideas:
I'll blow up certain areas of the images so you can see better.
We can see a delivery van deploying a much skinnier vehicle, presumably to tackle deliveries in narrow alleys or to use bicycle infrastructure.
This crouching fellow is interacting with a tiny ground delivery drone, deployed from a vehicle. (And not related to mobility, but at right we see a "3D Print Shop" where people are interacting with a display on the window.)
Here we've got multiple things going on, not all mobility-related. At bottom left, a Daimler-branded autonomous fruit cart with a holographic display. At left, a floating café. At right, a woman interacting with a kiosk, and to the left of that, some people playing bocce. If you look closely, you'll see the bocce court is actually projected by two stalks in the ground at opposing corners.
This one is really nifty: As two cyclists pass a car, the car automatically projects a bike lane for them to see. The driver (or autonomous system) is presumably notified of their presence.
And below is my favorite feature of all: A pedestrian has only to wave, and an oncoming car stops. It not only projects a crosswalk for the pedestrian, but a stop sign behind it.
Those last two ideas, where vehicles are subordinate to cyclists and pedestrians, are particularly nice. (Which is why they'd never make it in the 'States.)
Fine work by XOIO, all the more impressive considering they did this back in 2015. It still looks futuristic.
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