The car is about to go through an epochal transition. A real change of state, a transfiguration.
It happens because numerous transformative technologies are reaching the right level of maturation and are all converging on our means of transport. And it's not just electric motors: LIDAR, new materials and autonomous driving will completely change the car and its characteristics.
Volkswagen offers us its vision of this transition towards the car of the future, and it does so with the debut of its latest concept, the Gen. Travel, which debuts at the Chantilly Arts & Elegance exhibition near Paris.
Gen. Travel, a “middle way” that reveals a destination
In terms of style, this concept overturns the very paradigms of the German company. It doesn't look like any of VW's vehicles, not even the more "futuristic" ones. Its cockpit looks like a large transparent case designed to give a lot of light to the interior.
Speaking of interiors: the "final destination" of this transition will be to turn the old passenger compartment into a living space. Without the obligation to be distributed between front and rear seats, passengers and drivers, the interior volumes will be as versatile as those of a normal room in the house. And for sleeping, mobile beds.
Gen. Travel provides a completely reconfigurable interior, in which the seats can also be transformed into beds. The windows play into this setting: low enough to give occupants a nice exterior view, but high enough to allow privacy when it's time to sleep.
Living area, sleeping area
The “sleeping arrangement” is another look at the car's transition. At the moment, Gen. Travel allows you to transform two seats into two folding beds in a completely flat position. In the future, any location in a vehicle will be equipped for sleeping (the car drives itself anyway). In "conference" mode, however, the car has four large seats and a table in the centre.
Soft transition
The Gen. Travel is envisioned as an autonomous electric car with Level 5 technology, but VW has not yet revealed any other specs. The only thing we know is that it has an active suspension system called Electric Active Body Control (eABC).
“Gen.Travel offers us an insight into the travel of the future in a self-driving car. An extremely distinctive design that encompasses unlimited versatility,” he says Klaus Zyciora, Head of Volkswagen Group Design.
In other words, from "form follows function" we will move on to "form follows freedom". Not bad, when it comes. What do you think?
