New-Tech Europe Magazine | April 2017

Designing for an Automotive Environment

Eyal Cremer, Yama RD

Driving on the Highway. The phone rings. It's Italy's area code, +39. Mateo is phoning to tell me they've decided to move the Alfa Romeo's studio to Israel, that they need engineers and designers and that he only wants to ask me if I know people who would like to apply for the job. The alarm clock goes off and the dream is gone. True, an exotic automotive company has yet to open a design studio in Israel, but there is a revolution in the vehicle realm and it offers other options. The electric and autonomic era is on our doorstep, and if up till now Israel was watching the automotive industry from the sidelines, nowadays we have a real chance to get into the mix. Companies like Mobileye,

Waze and Better Place have made the impression that they have something to look for in Israel, not only for its technology but also for its fearlessness and development philosophy, which are so foreign to the traditional automotive industry. Nowadays one can see a lot of startup companies developing relevant products, from complementary products up to actual cars. So now it's time to ask if there is a unique way to design a product for the automotive realm. Since the beginning of the 20th century, cars have become devices which external form derives from the way they function and the way they are used. This obviously does not mean there weren't nifty looking cars (Bugatti Type 35, for example,

but also many others), but it does mean that design was not part of a separate developing discipline. Still, those cars are the cornerstones of vehicle design to this day. Car design has become a separate discipline when people started making vehicles with Monocoque chassis or a partial chassis. Actually, the car casing depended less on its content. The shapes could be richer and unique for every model or manufacturer. The first car designing studio was established by Harley Earl in General Motors in 1936, and it laid the foundation for the field. Since then, the car has been distinct in comparison to other products, and was an expensive and significant commodity. It has

40 l New-Tech Magazine Europe