Canoo Link : From City to Nature

Abstract: People in cities have a need of recreation. Leisure activities are a big part of people’s health and well- being. Many leisure activities are practiced outside in the nature. Today many citizens do not own a car and public transportation fail to meet the peoples need to move out from the city center out into the wild nature. Public transportation run according to a certain timetable and an established route. They also come with restrictions of what you can bring on board. In other words, there is a need for agile transportation that transport people and their equipment from the city out to the nature; and the need will only increase as the urbanization continue. The whole idea of the project originated from the question, “How might future mobility adapt to fit people’s need for recreation?” The project started with a research. The author studied trends how cities will develop, what defines generation Z, how 6G can be used in the future transportation industry, how electrification changes the terms of car design, the current status of autonomous technology etc. The research also included Canoo, a car company that design, develop and build electric vehicles with focus on lifestyle, utility and sustainability. After completed research, the project moved into a creative phase which included analog sketches of the vehicle, testing of proportions in scale 1: 1 and a storyboard that describes how the vehicle can be used. When thecreative phase was done, the project moved to its final phase; visualization. A 3D model was constructed in Autodesk Maya, a polygonal modelling software, and rendered images of the 3D model was conducted with Autodesk VRED, a 3D visualization software. The project resulted in Canoo Link; Link, targeting year 2035, is an electric autonomous utility vehicle that you subscribe to. It can carry 4 passengers and has storage space to haul equipment and supplies for canoeing, mountain biking etc. With its robust design and high ground clearance it is ready to take on some tough terrain. The subscription offers the customer full disposal of the vehicle during the activities for convenience and security. It acts like a hub for your activities, not just as a vehicle for commuting. To summarize; Link is a design proposal of a vehicle that connect people living in cities to the nature. It is not just a car that takes you from one point to another, it is a lifestyle.