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Automotive
Design Studios Envision Law Enforcement's Road Ahead
Graphic
credit: www.diseno-art.com
Design
studios from around the world to compete in the ninth annual Los
Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge: Highway Patrol Vehicle - 2025
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LOS
ANGELES -- The pace of change in society accelerates every
year, with breakthrough technologies and rapidly developing countries
constantly rewriting the rules in a global economy. How this translates
into life on the road for the general public is open to interpretation,
but for law enforcement, it is a mission-critical assignment. To
better patrol our roads and effectively "protect and serve,"
the future highway patrol vehicle will have to be designed with
an entirely new set of considerations, including advanced powertrains,
alternative fuels, telemetrics and new sizes to effectively navigate
dynamic urban environments.
This year's Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge asks a highly
competitive field of major auto manufacturer design studios, from
the U.S., Germany and Japan, to solve this puzzle and create the
ultimate law enforcement patrol vehicle for the year 2025. So far,
design studios from Bentley, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai
and Subaru have accepted the challenge to use their innovation and
insight to explore creative solutions as they contend for this annual
design honor.
"One
of the most difficult, yet important, tasks in design is looking
into the future to envision and create the trends and tools that
haven't been imagined," said Chuck Pelly, director of Design
Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc. "Adding
the element of law enforcement to this year's competition creates
another layer of importance that makes a challenge equal to the
level of our participants."
The winning
design will be announced Nov. 29 during an event at the LA Auto
Show Press Days. Judging criteria will be based upon various factors
including: consideration of future needs for advanced technology,
speed and agility on future freeway systems; creativity of the solution;
meeting a specific region's emission standards; and environmental
sensitivity, including maintenance and recyclability. All entries
will be unveiled online at LAautoshow.com in early November.
Entries
will be judged by Tom Matano, executive director, School of Industrial
Design at San Francisco's Academy of Art University; Imre Molnar,
provost and chief academic officer at Detroit's College for Creative
Studies; and Stewart Reed, chair of Transportation Design at Pasadena's
Art Center College of Design. This year's guest judge, Bruce Meyer,
is a board member of the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation,
which provides emergency benefits to CHP employees and the members
of their families in times of crisis. Mr. Meyer is perhaps better
known as a high-profile collector, former racer and past chairman
of the Petersen Automotive Museum.
The Design
Challenge is sponsored by Faurecia, the world's sixth-largest automotive
supplier specializing in automotive seating, emissions control technologies,
interior systems and auto exteriors, as well as Yokohama Tire, which
works closely with auto manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Japan
to develop tires for the latest concept vehicles. Other sponsors
that make Design Los Angeles possible include, Dassault Systemes,
the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) and Lacks
Enterprises.
About
the Design Challenge
The Design
Challenge takes place annually during the LA Auto Show Press Days,
Nov. 28-29, 2012. For each of the past nine years, a new Design
Challenge theme is chosen and the major automotive design studios
showcase their talents, competing against one another to further
explore new ideas in automotive design. The LA Auto Show Press Days
hosts the largest gathering of design professionals in North America
for a variety of design-focused activities including a Designers'
Night party that brings together design industry leaders from around
the world.
Source:
Los Angeles Auto Show
Graphic
credit: Los Angeles Auto Show
The
Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge
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