8 of the most thrilling Automotive Designs from the iF Design Award global design community

The iF Design Award has been consistently hand-picking the best, most innovative designs since 1953, honoring top-class achievements in categories spanning Product Design, Transportation Design, Communication Design, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, Professional Concepts, and UI and UX for 67 years in a row. The entire iF Design Award program saw as many as 10,000 submissions this year, which were evaluated by 98 international design experts from 21 countries, on the iF Jury.

Just this year alone, 1,744 designs received the iF Design Award for their creative accomplishments across various categories, while an additional 75 designs went on to win the highly-coveted iF gold award for their outstanding work. The iF Design Award always culminates in a grand ceremony in Berlin, although owing to the pandemic and global travel restrictions, award-winning products and projects this year are being celebrated digitally with an international content campaign encapsulated by the slogan “The CreatiFe Power of Design” in cooperation with popular design platforms and seven renowned design museums.

Over the course of the next few months, Yanko Design will be curating and featuring winning designs from this year’s program too – we’ve hand-picked eight award-winning designs from the ‘Automotive and Transportation’ category below! All the iF Design Award winners can also be viewed on the newly-launched iF Design App that gives you access to a grand database of award-winning design projects and their creators, right at your fingertips!

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Click Here to download the brand new iF Design App – a new experience in discovering outstanding designs


Award-Winning Bicycles & Travel-gear from the iF Design Award 2021

ELectric Unicycle V11 by Inmotion Technologies Co., Ltd.

Meet the ELectric Unicycle V11 – the world’s first shock-absorbing unicycle! Its rather radical design gives you something that’s as adrenaline-rushing as a skateboard, with the smooth ride comfort of a motorcycle. Designed for fun short trips and last-mile commutes, the ELectric Unicycle V11 is compact and flexible, with two modes of riding – a comfort mode, and a classic mode. Heck, it even comes with a motorbike-grade headlight and a taillight to make it legit enough to drive/ride on roads!

BMW Concept i4 by BMW Group

The BMW i4 is the brand’s first electric vehicle focused squarely on the dynamic flair of the driving experience. The perfectly resolved Gran Coupe proportions create an authentic, modern, and confident appearance. The car comes with its signature kidney grilles – they’re an iconic part of BMW’s form language, even though the i4 is powered by an electric drivetrain. Slated for a 2022 release, the i4 is all about electric luxury, from that beautiful satin-gold paint job to even the car’s rims, which have been designed exclusively for the BMW Concept i4 and blend aerodynamic and lightweight design.

Pendel-Stehsitz für Schienenfahrzeuge (Pendulum Seats) by Siemens AG

The Pendel-Stehsitz or Pendulum Seats, are a crazy redesign of the kind of seats you’d see on public transport. Designed for short train/subway/metro rides, they come in a rather unique compact avatar that allows them to open in either orientation, facing front or back. The modular and multifunctional seat concepts for local trains come with a pivoting backrest on top, and a bolster-shaped cylindrical seat at the bottom. The seat orientation is controlled by the train’s driver, who can easily orient the seats to face in any direction based on which way the train’s traveling. During rush hours, the seats can stay shut too, to create more space for people to stand. Designed by Siemens, the Pendel-Stehsitz is patented for being the first electronically controlled seating solution.

5th Generation Waymo Driver by Waymo

A subsidiary of Alphabet, Waymo is leading the charge on autonomous automobiles. You see, humans are great drivers, but they can get distracted, sleepy, drunk, or just simply stressed… unlike an autonomous machine that’s always performing at its very best. The Waymo Driver’s latest hardware suite includes three sensing technologies (lidar, cameras, and radar), and features 360-degree vision, with cameras that can see up to 500 meters away. The result is a highly capable and safe driver that can power multiple vehicle platforms, from SUVs to class 8 trucks, across various use cases, including ride-hailing and goods delivery.

UNAwheel Maxi by ART UP Studio for SupremeMotors

Designed to turn the wheelchair into a makeshift electric trike, the UNAwheel clamps onto the front of a traditional wheelchair, allowing the occupant to ride around like a kart. The purpose of the design is to “help overcome some of the main mobility challenges faced by people with disabilities”, say the designers. It comes with an adjustable handlebar and a replaceable rechargeable battery pack, and can quickly be attached to and detached from the wheelchair.

Ferrari Roma by Ferrari S.p.A.

Created by the Ferrari Design Centre in Maranello, the Ferrari Roma features harmonious proportions, clean/symbiotic forms, and elegantly balanced volumes which fall wonderfully in line with Ferrari’s front-engined grand touring tradition. Timeless and sublimely refined, the Ferrari Roma’s signature Italian styling is a contemporary reinterpretation of the carefree lifestyle of the 1950s and ‘60s Rome, after which the concept is named.

Ferrari SF90 Spider by Ferrari S.p.A.

The SF90 Spider, like the Roma, comes from the Ferrari Design Centre, headed by Flavio Manzoni. The Spider (or convertible) version of the SF90 was revealed at a digital event, armed with a hybrid powertrain and a retractable hardtop (RHT) that not only gives you the thrill of an open-air ride, but also ensures speed, aerodynamism, and noise-insulation when closed. The new convertible has the same extreme supercar specification and record-breaking performance as the SF90 Stradale yet also adds further driving pleasure and versatility to the mix, thanks to the latest iteration of Ferrari’s signature retractable hardtop architecture.

Eli ZERO by Eli Electric Vehicles

Eli reimagines the personal vehicles of the future by creating compact, efficient, clean, and affordable micro-EVs. The first in Eli’s line of automobiles, the Eli ZERO is half the cost, half the size, and 3–10 times more energy-efficient than conventional compact cars. In fact, its makers even go so far as to call it the “iPad of Cars”, comparing cars to laptop, while positioning the Eli ZERO as something that’s just as advanced and capable, in a ridiculously compact form factor! “It communicates a new vision of mobility and urban lifestyle that is friendlier, more engaging, less intrusive, and more sustainable”, say the designers at the LA-based Eli Electric Vehicles.

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.