Design of a Vehicle for Modern Mobilities in Metropolitan Areas

The design of a vehicle for modern mobility expectations involves a combination of technical and business-related analyses and decisions. This paper describes a course related to the conceptual design of a vehicle that is expected to be used for carsharing services in metropolitan areas. The technical and business specifications of such a vehicle are listed. The course delivery approach that creates a learning environment able to ensure that engineering design principles are followed is presented. The balance of engineering and business analyses that leads to the design of a vehicle for the given mobility service is assessed in several steps of the conceptual design. Design approaches for an environment-conscious vehicle are presented. The need of connected vehicle solutions and advanced driver-assistance systems assistance that could be included in the vehicle design are discussed. A final design assessment strategy carried out by experts from the automotive industry is presented.