Lexus 2040

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Travel 2040

Lexus enlists students at London’s Royal College of Art to explore the future of luxury mobility.

Cars that change colour with the seasons, personalised VTOLs that dock onto buildings, and tessellating pods that combine to form an urban swarm are just some of the concepts envisioned by students at London’s Royal College of Art when asked to imagine the future of luxury mobility.

Lexus – a division of Japanese automaker Toyota – tasked post-graduates at the university’s Intelligent Mobility Design Centre to explore new vehicle architectures in a changing world, and to reimagine the role the Lexus brand might play in Europe’s mobility landscape beyond the next two decades, whether on land or in the sky. The six-month programme included mentoring and assessment sessions with Lexus design studio ED2, culminating in a competiton in which six projects were shortlisted, before Richard Newman’s Alto was selected as the eventual winner.

“All of the designers impressed us with their thinking, their ideation and the breadth of their imagination,” explains Lance Scott, Senior Manager at ED2. “What they produced is not just fantasy, but based on factual study of what premium might mean in a future society.” 2.

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1. LEXUS NEKO Designed by Jan Niehues, Lexus Neko is a micromobility concept for on-demand travel. Inspired by nature, it has an insect-like exoskeleton and is battery-powered with sensor cameras and an intelligent recording device. It can operate in two modes: one for conventional driving, the other a sharing mode in which occupants can view scenery recorded on previous journeys.

2. LEXUS URBAN SWARM Urban Swarm brings a sense of luxury to an everyday urban mobility experience according to its designer Maxime Gauthier. The modular concept provides the flexibility and convenience of micro-mobility with the efficiency of mass transportation systems through its tessellation feature in which it can link with other pods. 3. LEXUS #UNITS In the context of transportation as a future social space, Lexus #Units by Zhenyu Kong seeks to foster connections between individuals and groups. On arrival at a destination – such as a party, concert or conference – the vehicle can link virtually to other vehicles for social interaction. Interiors can also be personalised using blockchain technology, so NFT artworks can be brought along on any journey.

4. ALTO The winning concept by Richard Newman is a vertical take-off and landing vehicle that appears as a cross between a spaceship and a hot-air balloon. With a distinctive architectural form, it features unified cladding to enable docking onto the side of buildings. 5. 2040 LEXUS VISION IN-SEASON Bangning An’s vision for the future of mobility is based around ichi-go ichi-e, a Japanese phrase that honours the idea of treasuring everyday moments. The concept is in sync with the seasons, meaning that both the interior and exterior can change colour, light intensity and temperature thanks to intelligent controls that sense their surroundings.

6. CRUCIBLE Designed by Benjamin Miller, Crucible is a hydrogen-fuelled vehicle that divides itself to adapt to different uses. The luxury cabin can be separated from the mobility technology, meaning that it can be used as a personal space in a variety of scenarios for work and relaxation, even indoors.