First responder vehicles are specialized vehicles which are made to respond for any emergency purposes. They are usually used for fire breakouts, rescue missions, medical emergency, or even for emergency police patrol cases. Their main purpose is to reach the destination faster to take control of the situation even before the actual task force arrives.

The project deals with medical first responder vehicles. These vehicles can reach the patient or victim even before the ambulance can reach the spot. This vehicle got to be fast and small enough to cut through traffic and reach the patient to give first aid. In medical terms, they call it the golden minute treatment, in which the patient is given immediate medical response. This immediate response is very critical in cases like Cardiac arrests, airway problems, insects or snake bites, accidents occurring on roads, at home or at workplaces. Paramedics treat the patients on the spot before the ambulance arrives. Mahindra Reva E20 was selected as the base vehicle and the main focus was on the interiors.

The Design process starts with investigating the need and scope of the project by doing research on the existing projects and actual use of this vehicle in Indian context. The project is divided into three stages. The first stage concentrates on the need of such a vehicle: Research on the existing products, the users of the vehicle, equipment to be carried during in that vehicle. The vehicle that is going to be used as a base vehicle will also be looked into in this stage. A quick look into the scenarios, the city Chennai which is the target location of the vehicle, will also be touched upon in this stage. The stage ends with generation of inferences out of the user study and a design brief which states the requirements, the technical details and other must have points in that vehicle. Stage 2 starts with quick ideations on how the concepts might be. Quick renderings are also made in this stage. Then package exploration is made to understand how the equipment and the paramedics will be placed inside. Mockups of the equipment simulating the size and weight were made and the package was evaluated on an actual car. Using the selected package, various concepts were made and they were evaluated based on criteria’s like quick accessibility, securing the equipment. The selected concept is refined further and a 1:5 scale interior model was made.

Case Study Download:
• Medical First Responder Vehicle......