VDS VEHICLES: People love their cars. They are an extraordinary technology. If you take a vehicle apart you can find a trace of just about any industrial process, whether you care about metals, textiles, electronics, energy or exceptional design. Due to their complexity, impact on society and emotional value, personal vehicles have for the duration of VDS to date been our primary tangible output. Our focus is on 4-6 passenger vehicles as they are small enough to fit in our workshop and large enough to allow us to tackle issues of aerodynamics, dynamic handling and human interaction that are not possible with one or two passenger vehicles. Click on the image of a vehicle below to learn more about it.
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The ArchiMITes vehicles is the newest VDS prototype due to be unveiled this summer. Inspired by the work of mathemetician Archimedes, the vehicle’s design is unified by the clever displacement of matter -- whether air, earth or fire. ArchiMITes is the first VDS vehicle to be build by a majority MIT team. The goal with the vehicle is to build systems engineering expertise at MIT and definite interfaces between subsystems for future optimization. |
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Completed during the summer of 2008 in Torino, Italy, the Vision 100 provided a benchmark of VDS work to that point. 34 VDS team members and 8 MIT team members assembled the vehicle with the support of the Regione Piemonte, Politecnico di Torino, Landra Srl, Torino Design and the FS Group. The opportunity to be in Torino provided the entire team with the chance to interact with master craftspeople. Unveiled officially during the three month DREAM expo along side 40 of Italy's top concept cars of all time 1960-2000, the vehicle is now with our team in Montreal. |
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A number of unique vehicle concepts have been developed by VDS team members, advisors and enthusiasts. We are always interested to review concept designs and are grateful to those who submit them. |
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Vision 007 (2007) During the summer of 2007, VDS worked with Design Continuum to define systems level performance targets for the VDS vehicles. In addition to setting requirements, the team also selected India as the original target market and unveiled a preliminary small car concept in response to the launch of the Tata Nano. This process culminated with a concept design review in India in late October and systems level design review in Belgium in November of that year. |
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Built during the first summer project put on at the launch of VDS, Pulse is an all electric single seater demonstrator. With A123 batteries and a rear in-hub motor, the team styled the vehicle with the concept of its being used on extremely busy urban streets. |
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The Assisted Human Powered Vehicle (AHPV) mixes a small battery and electric motor with bicycle powertrain. Designed with an eye on developing markets, the vehicle uses a light kevlar shell to protect the occupant. Beyond its functionality, AHPV was intended to give a person a sense of just how much energy it takes to move as fast as passenger vehicles have made so common. |
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Fuel Cell Electric Prototype (2006) The Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Team worked to design a hyper-efficient vehicle that could use a very small and thus inexpensive fuel cell to charge. The team designed an aluminum space frame and a polypropylene composite body with the goal of a hyper-recyclable finished product. |
