“What could a car achieve if it had the ability to walk?”
This is exactly what Hyundai’s New Horizons Studio founding director, John Suh, aimed to answer with the new Hyundai Elevate ultimate mobility vehicle (UMV). The car company first touched on the idea with its walking “Elevate” concept, which debuted at CES 2019 in partnership with industrial design studio Sundberg-Ferar. This time, Hyundai worked on developing the concept further in its collaboration with Autodesk, which assisted with the engineering process.
The Elevate UMV can transform from a regular four-wheeled vehicle into a “four-legged reptilian walking machine.” This allows the UMV to traverse complex terrains that even off-road vehicles can no longer access or cross. To achieve this, high-torque electric motors were integrated into each of the vehicle’s leg joints. While the structural parts of the Elevate should generally be tough, the vehicle’s handling and payload requirements suggest that they should be lightweight instead. To work on the design process, Hyundai used Autodesk’s Fusion 360, which features a generative design platform.
Fusion 360 allows users to examine various design iterations under different constraints and demands. In addition to that, the system leverages cloud technology to make it easily accessible for the entire team regardless of whether they’re focused on engineering, design or manufacturing.
“More than 10 years ago, we identified the pain points, rework required and loss of valuable information when projects move from one phase to the next and the associated files don’t play nicely in the heterogenous environments organizations so often use,” said Srinath Jonnalagadda of Autodesk. “Creating a design and engineering platform that helps remove those hurdles, while also putting advanced capabilities such as generative design tools at the fingertips of designers, has been our North Star for a decade. The Elevate project is a showcase of how leaders like Hyundai can now enjoy the fruits of that vision.”
The initial design plan for the vehicle was to enable it to climb walls, cross diverse terrains, and approach barriers—all while maintaining the body’s stability. According to Hyundai, the Elevate can be used for situations that require maximum flexibility such as irregular-ground transport needs, surface exploration (on the moon, or Mars), and search and rescue emergencies (after a hurricane or an earthquake), as well as address transportation challenges for mobility-impaired individuals.
The Elevate is currently only available as a 1:5 scale prototype, so it’s not in action just yet. However, the latest addition of Hyundai’s New Horizons Studio arm looks particularly promising. The studio will be fulfilling the car company’s vision by expanding into other markets that aim to enhance transportation—on and off the road.
To see the Elevate UMV prototype, watch this video by Hyundai and Autodesk.
For more news and stories, check out Apple’s new self-driving car, which includes a VR system, here.