Industrial Design Director Tom Matano Shapes Auto Shows Coming to L.A., San Francisco

The Youthmobile Design Challenge, held in conjunction with the LA Auto Show, asks top automotive design studios to envision the car of 2030, with emphasis on how young drivers will relate to transportation 21 years from now. Shown is Nissan Design America's V2G, an eco-neutral commuter car. School of Industrial Design Director Tom Matano was a founder of the Design Challenge series and will judge the 2009 competition.

The car and lifestyles of the young have always been inextricably linked. How today’s digital youth will connect with the auto designs of 2030 is the question behind the Youthmobile Design Challenge, a competition in which Tom Matano, director of the School of Industrial Design, will serve as a judge.

The Youthmobile Design Challenge, latest in a series of annual design competitions held in conjunction with the LA Auto Show, asks six of America’s top design studios — from Audi, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota — to explore the ways in which auto design will respond to the needs of a new generation of drivers. Among the questions: How will drivers aged 16–23, linked via cell phones, webcams and online communities, emotionally connect with the car two decades from now? Will this new generation challenge the conventional auto ownership model by 2030?

General Motors Advanced Design's "Car Hero" turns driving into gaming, pitting the driver's skills against the car's autonomous driving system: Once a destination is entered into the navigation app on the driver's smart phone, the driver can "play against" the vehicle to "win" control over the system and gain access to advanced driving scenarios.

The design studios reached 21 years into the future to design their interpretation of Youthmobile 2030. Their concepts range from vehicles that incorporate human DNA — allowing changes in shape, color and materials — to vehicles that link to a mass transit system where drivers not only share the commute but also trade music and compare class schedules.

Results of the Youthmobile Challenge will be presented at the press preview to the LA Auto Show, Dec. 4–13 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In related news, Matano has selected classic cars to be exhibited at the San Francisco Chronicle|SFGate.com International Auto Show. Matano — himself a leading figure in global automotive design with 30 years experience in the U.S., Europe and Japan — chose 30 examples from the collection of former Academy President Richard A. Stephens, father of current President Elisa Stephens. Cars to be shown include Cord, Auburn, Bugatti, Duesenberg and other legendary marques (see the complete lineup here). “I picked the best examples of 1930s European and American makers for the show,” he says, adding that his personal favorite is the 1937 Delage from France. “It is the most elegant car.”

Richard A. Stephens’ private auto collection is periodically made available to Academy Industrial Design students majoring in Transportation Design, Matano says. The students also travel to examine classic car collections like the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, Calif., and get involved with local Concours d’Elegance events like Palo Alto Concours d’Elegance.

Although the Academy’s Transportation Design major is just a decade old, alumni from it are already working at the major automotive design studios in Southern California, Detroit, Japan and Germany. It is one of just three comparable majors offered at U.S. universities, Matano notes. “Exposing our students to classic car designs gives this next generation of designers something to look up to,” he remarks. “It stretches their minds.