How Cars Should Be Designed: The Importance of Form in New Technologies

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to discuss style and structure of modern cars resulting from innovative types of drive systems and design. The author based his considerations on the experience gained during designing the solar car Eagle Two, which was constructed by the students from the Lodz Solar Team at the Lodz University of Technology, and took part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The article deals with the issues concerning how the car of not even “tomorrow” but of “today” should look like. In the moment of radical changes in the way we travel and technological breakthroughs, should we act conservatively or courageously? Are recent ideas, such as solar drive system, a solution to the difficult environmental and transportation situation, in which we are currently in? How do the new technologies affect the process of shaping the forms of the vehicles and their reception by the users? The article describes the progress of technology in transport from the point of view of the industrial designer.