Italian design firm Italdesign has unveiled an innovative autonomous mobility platform at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. While Italdesign is known for creating iconic cars like the DeLorean DMC-12, Lotus Esprit, and Lancia Delta, its latest creation is not just a car but a one-size-fits-all transport box designed to be a living room, restaurant, or even a dentist’s office.
Named Climb-E, this concept is an electrically propelled module that is part of a centrally-managed pod system. These rolling room capsules are meant to be an extension of a home or office, allowing people to spend time in them when not in use or recall them for maintenance or storage at “underground containers or silos built in disused spaces around town.”
Italdesign collaborated with Swiss elevator company Schindler and Italian university Politecnico di Torino to create Climb-E, which can reach a top speed of 75 mph and has a range of 200 miles, fully recharging in just 30 minutes. This platform is intended for private and business use, with modules that can be fitted out as a place for business, including dentist offices and restaurants.
The sleek design of the platform features a standard personal configuration with two sofas facing each other in a carriage-style layout, while the symmetrical design makes it stackable, making it useful in commercial applications for easy storage and quick implementation when needed.
However, the Climb-E is more than just a transport box. It can serve as an elevator in urban areas, taking people directly to apartments or offices in skyscrapers. Italdesign envisions Climb-E as a literal door-to-door mobility machine for the future, with a spacious interior and configurable space that can be used on the road or sitting still at home.
Climb-E is a fully autonomous vehicle that leaves occupants to gaze outside the windows or darken them for privacy. It is designed for user-friendly and pedestrian-friendly operation, with a plethora of digital screens melding with luxurious surfaces in a minimalist environment, utilizing recycled materials.
While the functionality of Climb-E requires new infrastructure to make it work, Italdesign already holds patents for some of Climb-E’s features. Future buildings can be designed to incorporate Climb-E as a built-in component, using an elevator lift system to shuffle modules around as needed.
In conclusion, Climb-E is a unique urban mobility concept that could revolutionize the way people travel and live in densely populated cities. While implementation of such a system with the necessary infrastructure would take years to develop, Italdesign’s Climb-E is a promising glimpse into the future of transportation and urban living.
Source: Italdesign
