The Autonomous EV Quarter Car Offers Modular Private Zones For Hire

The Quarter Car is a ride-sharing vehicle with private zones inside. The creative work of London-based industrial design studio Seymourpowell, the autonomous electric powered concept has retractable interior partitions to divide the cabin into four tailored areas. The idea is for the host company – digital taxi services, hoteliers, airlines – to style the zones according to customer needs and charge per space.

This is a relatively compact vehicle, measuring 4150mm long, 1725mm high and 1800mm wide. The design isn’t so much concerned with the aerodynamics of the exterior, but rather shifting our mindset on the concept of efficiency by looking at other metrics, ecological production methods, sustainable material content, daily usage per person, the quality of ride experience – that sort of thing.

Seymourpowell has identified a flaw in the shared digital ride-hailing business model – think Uber Pool – where there are often empty seats on journeys since customers aren’t willing to share their commute space so intimately with strangers (a concept highlighted even more by the current Covid-19 pandemic).

Inside the Quarter Car, the retractable partitions through the two central axes segment the generous cabin space into four private zones that can be styled to suite demand. Theoretically, customers will specify their seating requirement digitally in advance, book an individual quarter for a private journey, or colleagues will hire the full spaces to have face-to-face meetings en-route.

Modular interior layouts are not entirely new, of course. Yet, the Quarter Car’s use of solid dividers means there is an enhanced feeling of privacy, security and safety for passengers. Jonny Culkin, one of the designers involved on the project, sees such vehicles defining the “private shared” arena. “The impact of these dividers could be huge,” he says confidently. Intelligently monitored by the service provider, the vehicles could be at full capacity the majority of the time. “It would radicalize the business metrics of ride-hailing companies whilst also changing the urban environment for the better by taking large quantities of vehicles off the road – all the whilst vastly improving passenger experience.”

In-car digital technology will further heighten the experiential nature of the Quarter Car ride. There will be transparent glazing displays, gestural interaction capability and artificial intelligence for personalized and engaging digital experiences. Seymourpowell sees this as an opportunity for the host ride company to personalize these journeys – offer premium clients peaceful ad-free rides, for instance, or for an extra price, passengers may opt for a tailored digital experience, get retail opportunities, or an educational architectural tour on their journey.

This fully electric vehicle will ideally work with energy generated from sustainable means – from solar, wind or other clean energy sources. This may cost more, but Culkin feels it will ultimately create a “passionate captive market”. He explains: “It’s interesting to think how mobility service providers might use sustainably sourced materials or cleanly generated energy as a differentiator to set apart their service and appeal to an increasingly ethically driven generation of consumers.”

Inside utilizes sustainable materials too. The large shell, which makes up the main interior surface, is made of molded compressed and recycled fiber, while the floor and lower walled areas work with sustainable and anti-bacterial cork and soft-touch surfaces use ethically sourced wool and dyes. The team, Culkin tells me, are also exploring the possibilities of hemp fibers.

“A more circular economy of both materials and components within the transport sector should be the end goal here,” explains Eddie Hamilton, Seymourpowell’s sustainability lead. He points out that it isn’t solely about ethical sourcing, but rather controlling what happens to the interior and all its elements at their end-of-life. “Parts tend to require such high practical utility for public transport that, alongside ethical sourcing, the emphasis should be on durability, ease of maintenance and recoverability of components.” The focus, Hamilton feels has to be on, “creating reusable components, finding markets for waste materials, understanding how vehicles are maintained and designing accordingly.”

Not leaving many stones unturned, the Quarter Car would also like to positively contribute to the air quality of its immediate environment. Through smart air filtration and early carbon capture technology, the vehicle is able to remove some elements of harmful particulates from the air it passes through, while collecting live air quality data to help city-wide ecosystem to be reactive to air quality issues. This is, of course, not a solution for eradicating urban air pollution, but as the project’s lead automotive designer Richard Seale says, “if we are going to flood city’s with new mobility solutions, each vehicle should do a little good for every mile travelled.”

Culkin feels that the automotive industry, largely reliant on volume sales, needs to be moving much closer to a model of “producing less, but more efficient vehicles that are fit for purpose as part of a service based, non-ownership economy,” he says. “Carmakers need to understand that if they harness the power of automotive design in this new direction, there will be opportunities for recurring revenue that will alleviate any loss of sales.”

See some other radical car concepts and urban design studies: Polestar’s inventive vegan interior, tech start-up Pix Moving’s fascinating flexible cities,  Toyota’s prototype futuristic city, the MINI Living Shanghai initiative and my top list of progressive cars from 2019.