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April 25, 2003
moleskine 002 014

There could be wild things on the road soon. I am imagining soft body cars, cars that change shape and color according to the speed they are cruising at, or according to the environment they are in. I guess that there is a patent for this, or there will be soon... but can you imagine? You would drive in a black car. The sun would set and the entire car would begin to glow softly. Then the skin of the car would begin to change its glow according to its speed. The vehicle would turn from a mild greenish hue to a brighter and brighter orange, then red. Then, at a certain speed, the car would begin to pulsate. It would visually increase its heart rate. It would be ready for danger, or just simply afraid. On the sides of the vehicle, the speed would appear in large letters. Or the car would turn into a bright racing billboard?
And then there would be soft city cars. They would maybe still have a hard shell on the outside, but when parked they would just deflate and turn into a smaller and smaller object. Maybe the parked cars would turn into benches. Maybe the parked cars would turn into street s. Maybe the parked cars would turn their skin onto billboards, helping to find missing children.
Parked cars could also play sounds. They could turn into chirping birds, or a speeding brook. The parked cars could also open themselves and become shelters for those who do not have a home. No, the doors would not open and let anybody drive away, the car would just simply turn into a warm mini-cave.
And maybe the car itself could be a bit of an airbag. The skin would inflate on impact. (Though I can imagine a child going through a street in New York, turning a row of parked cars into giant pop-corn.)
I think it would be nice if cars displayed their speed to the outside. If a porsche behind me showed up as a giant 150, turning slowly into a giant pulsating 200, I would know that it is time for me to change lanes. What if the car in which you were cruising projected a red line onto the pavement in front of you, clearly indicating where you would stop if you tried to stop... about now. This red line could turn into a smiling skull, or advertisement for funeral homes if a your speed were beyond good and evil. And so on...
And I do not even have a car. Maybe this is why i get such silly unselfish thoughts.

Comments

cars morphing?... that would be cool... i saw that once in a science fiction flick from the 60's... some late late show my dad had on tv as he dozed in his chair after work... sometimes, i'd get up to get a glass of water and pass by to see what was on tv... this movie from the 60's where some bad guys were chasing the good guys in this nifty little sports car that pulled over to the side of the road and morphed into a billboard...

foiled again.

sometimes i wish i could fold my arms over my chest and *blink* and ALL my chores be completely done... or i'd *blink* and my room would have a totally new color scheme, totally new decor...

aaaaaaaah yes...

Posted by: - s - on April 25, 2003 10:48 PM

yeah, me too ...you seen nasa's morphing planes? ...here's an article. there's a wonderful image somewhere else at nasa, a plane like a manta ray... me, i'm waiting for the auto-irrigating vertical gardens, built into walls...

Posted by: yolande on April 25, 2003 11:07 PM

wow, this is fantstic! Morphing material that is also a sensor. Really very cool. Thank you so much for the link. I like the little movie a lot. It feels like a parody of a nasa movie. And yet it is very serious. : )

Posted by: witold on April 26, 2003 01:14 AM

Michael Dodt send me the following link:
Morphing Car Boots
If you follow this link to an older post, you will find your way to Nick Pugh's car design site with some incredible images of his very forward thinking creation. It is the great stuff.

Posted by: witold on April 26, 2003 08:28 AM

Cool! Nick's my kind of guy...
Found the [biomorphic] morphing project images. I want to be a pilot. The one on the top left... ye-ees! Take a look :)

Posted by: yolande on April 27, 2003 10:58 PM
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