Out of more than 4000 entries to the Red Dot Design Concept this year, the Hyundai Design Center (the in-house studio for Hyundai Motor Company) edged out a win for their Trailer Drone – a unique and innovative future mobility solution that combines fuel cells, trucks, trailers and robots on a single platform to make logistics easier, faster, safer, and more sustainable.
The Trailer Drone works on a fully autonomous framework, requiring absolutely no human intervention in the operational process. The large E-Bogies house the fuel cells as well as provide a large space for cargo, and are operated by the platform-shaped drones that plug into the front and rear, giving it increased and autonomous mobility. “The e-Bogie, derived from railroad car technology, is a driverless mobility concept that efficiently houses essential components such as propulsion, control, steering, and suspension units within a limited space”, say the Hyundai Design team led by team lead Lee SangYup.
Designer: Hyundai Design Center
The Trailer Drone is an exhaustive and modular ecosystem featuring E-Bogies and smart drone platforms that can operate them within warehouses as well as on roads with Level 5 autonomy. The lack of humans makes the entire operation safer and smarter, and the absence of a traditional ‘cockpit’ means more space to store cargo and additional room for fuel cells, boosting efficiency.
The E-Bogies house multiple hydrogen fuel cells, which provide power to the drone platforms while being 100% emission-free and safe for the environment. The hydrogen tanks, which are mounted at the front and bottom of the E-Bogies, provide a range of 1,600km per charge. The concept secured the Luminary Winner title at this year’s Red Dot Design Concept Award for its unique take on modularity and mobility. The team at Hyundai managed to build a self-sustaining emission-free framework that allows for the efficient transportation of cargo with little human intervention. The drones can transport cargo within storage yards as well as across cities/states, relying on smart level 5 autonomous technologies that allow them to efficiently get from A to B. In the event that multiple trailers need transporting, they link up wirelessly, forming an invisible train of sorts that can efficiently travel on roads and highways without having a human at the wheel.
The Trailer Drone is a Luminary Winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2022.
