Umeå University's logo

Inspiration

The very first idea starts from the author’s life experience when urbanization in China shows great impact on everyone’s daily life that the social transport resources are often distributed unevenly during the day. It’s common to find no available shared bikes around metro station in the morning, or find no metro to go back home from the airport during the mid-night; Personal travelling experience with public system usually lacks privacy and comfort with many people in a carriage, while private mobility leads to congestion, parking and refueling headaches. In addition, the national goal for the future public transportation development is another story background. Public transit is strongly encouraged in China in the near future. To develop with this social need potential, the concept aims at exploring a flexible public transport system which remains both transport and energy efficiency, and also on-board experience as good as individual vehicles.

Process

The initial concept is based on the logic of rail transit system, which runs on dedicated tracks. Accordingly, Urban planning interview with professionals is conducted to learn more about the influence the future city layout may bring to the system design. All information gathered during research finally form the logical base. Once the system frame is set, more flesh is added such as brand identity, design aesthetics and related accessory design. The project mainly focuses on exterior which directly connects to the context, yet a hint of interior is also considered to provide persuasive illustration on user experience. In parallel to the vehicle design, context design (the hub) is as well part of the design list. The final outcome is to visualize a big picture of the whole system, not only a single unit. To test out the practicality, 3D modelling of architecture and vehicles with VR test are utilized to help optimize.

Result

ZEEKR 00M is not just the name for the pod running on the track, but also the whole system which can be called as ZEEKR line too, similar to the existed metro lines’ name that help users get familiar quickly. The system operates as a public resource which basically covers the new district areas surrounding the busy city center, where wide-spread transport infrastructure web is strongly needed in the near future. With separated pods running continuously on the track instead of a long carriage leaving a waiting queue at the platform after departure, individual travelling is independent with each other which improves the steadiness and efficiency of personal mobility experience. Meanwhile, these small pods can be kept in dynamically equal number at each hub with Internet-of-Vehicle assist, which helps feed the uneven rush hour need in different districts or emergent mobility need at any time.