Mock-up made of cardboard

Centered on the moving floor, future car development progressed to more precise packaging. Based on the dimensions of current mass-produced vehicles, a simple mockup was completed, incorporating details such as the dimensions of the doors and hinges for getting in and out of the car, based on an initial design proposal. Surprisingly, the mockup was made of cardboard, leading to rumors within the company that it was a “rich cardboard house. The reason for this is said to be because it looked like a shack, but the interior was already very comfortable, and not only the development team members but also new employees and even executives boarded the vehicle and gave it a lot of feedback.

This simplified mockup was a major factor in confirming the appropriateness of a 1/1, and based on the assumption that the birthrate would be declining in the future, we decided on a three-seater, envisioning a minivan of the future. Placing the highest priority on comfort, we settled on a unique body silhouette that slopes gently from front to rear. This study ultimately led to many discoveries, including an overall length that was 1,000 mm shorter than originally planned.

Styrofoam mock-up and development team members

After the completion of the simple mock-up, full-scale mock-up production began. From this process, collaboration with an outside manufacturer specializing in concept car mock-up production is essential. The process began with a detailed design in accordance with the specifications required for the car of the future. First, the in-house design department creates a 1/4-size clay model, and then a CAD drawing is created by an outside team. At this point, a 1/1 size mockup made of styrene foam was also completed to reproduce the items to be installed and the body structure. Although the overall length is the size of a compact car, the interior is wider than it looks, a gap that foreshadows a new dimension.

Realization of a challenging “moving floor

There was one mounted item that was not straightforward. It was the main item, the “moving floor.

We had to create a car 20 years in the future with today’s technology,” he said. Naturally, the technology to install this technology would not even exist, let alone be commercially available, so we had to develop it from scratch.

In other words, the “moving floor” also had to be developed completely from scratch. First of all, in order to transform the floor from a flat state to a seat state, approximately 130% elasticity was required, and improvements were repeatedly made in the weaving of the surface skin. For the seat cushion material, a special urethane material developed by a venture company of the University of Tokyo was adopted, and the unprecedented feeling of floating in midair was realized. It made us realize that we are definitely getting closer to the concept of a new dimension of comfort.

The end of a journey is the beginning of a new journey

Four years after the start of the project, the future car was finally completed. In the final step of the projection mapping process, one of the three projectors projected an image that was slightly off, forcing final adjustments down to the tenth of a second. However, the moment everything fell into place perfectly, they felt a sense of accomplishment they had never experienced before.

The completion of the future car with satisfactory accuracy was largely due to the involvement of members with flexible ideas within the company in its development. The future car is the culmination of a small group of highly motivated members who respected each member’s ideas and output to the maximum extent possible. It can be said that the future that Hayashi Telempu is aiming for is contained in this one car.

Here again, if you look closely at the future car, you will notice that there are no seatbelts in sight. Of course, this can be attributed to the fact that it is a concept car, but it can also be read to mean that 20 years in the future, a world without accidents awaits us, assuming automated driving. Experiencing such a futuristic car exhibit in person makes us look forward to the year 2040.