Volkswagen V-Trek : The Rise of Mental Transportation

Sammanfattning: I started this project with a mindset that I want to design something for younger generations living in the future megacities. After a while, trying to figure out their urban mobility needs, I came to this conclusion: Already today we have so many different options for urban com- muting as well as several different car sharing services. I couldn’t find a way to create some- thing new. I changed my approach and I started thinking; what is it that they don’t have? I pret- ty soon understood it. They have no nature. By the year 2040, 70% of world’s population is expected to live in urban areas. This, in turn, is diminishing the natural environments around the globe. Needless to say, that people are becoming more and more disconnected from nature. In my research I quoted George Monbiot from The Guardian: “If Children lose contact with nature, they won’t fight for it.” This de- scribes the problem to the core. Coming gen- erations need to know where all that we have comes from. This is why I decided to create a way, people in megacities can connect to nature instantly. Volkswagen V-Trek offers an instant escape to nature from megacities to conservation areas around the world. With an immersive full-body experience, V-Trek engages people with nature, as well as with Volkswagen as a brand. The concept is demonstrated in a visual story. The scenario of the events was created based on predictions and possible events in the future. Most of the time in my process I used for research about VR and other technologies related to the topic. As the physical movement is an important part of the concept, and because I wanted to enhance it on the platform, I spent time trying to figure it out. When things started to get together, I began to shape quick mockups in 3D for development of the form and archi- tecture. Later on in the process, it was easy to transform those mockups into sketch models and for testing in VR. The most important part of the project was the story and scenario, which justifies and ex- plains the whole concept. I started planning the scenario and the details early on which made it easier for me to visualize it in finalization phase. This project also raises a question: What comes next in the field of transportation and mobil- ity? For years’ cars and transportation have remained the same. We move from place A to B, this is what I call: Physical transportation. Right now we are living times of change as autono- mous technology is finally breaking through. However, cars have always been about the driv- ing experience and in autonomous future; trav- eling experience. Because of the changing atti- tudes towards cars amongst youth, cars are not seen as a pleasant experience anymore. Rather as a necessity. Experiences engage users with brands, whether it is a smartphone or a car, and this is what young users appreciate. When Physical transportation is no longer delivering that experience, car brands need to figure out a way to engage the users. This is where Mental Transportation changes the game. Mental Transportation is a term I came up with along the process and as the name suggests, it enables users to travel in their mind. With the idea of mental transportation, I want to chal- lenge everyone to think differently and with an open mind about the future of mobility and transportation.