With its 3.8 billion years of experience, nature has always been a great source of inspiration and information. Nature has evolved with time, adapting to various conditions and taking shape for optimum adaptation in a particular environment. Designers and engineers in search of new ideas always seek inspiration from nature. As we continue to observe and understand, nature continues to show us the best ways to handle various problems.

To understand waterways and the means of water transport in Kerala, we set out to experience them. As a part of it, we have travelled on different boats via national waterways. Mainly the districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, and Kannur are well connected by inland waterways, which have frequent water transport facilities. The government runs different kinds of boats depending on the distance and the demand for the particular route at an affordable price. They vary from single deck to double-deck boats.

Apart from public transport, leisure boats are very popular in Kerala. Tourists from around the world enjoy taking these rides. Even local people show a lot of interest in leisure rides now and then. Shikara, hop-on, hop-off, and house boats are a few types that are popular for leisure rides within inland waterways. Samudra Shipyard has given us a chance to experience canoeing, rowboating, and an exclusive ‘Kopra Vallam’ day cruiser ride.

Earlier in the 1950s, people were dreaming about the future of flying and self-driving cars that would make transportation fast and safe. Fast forward to 2016, and there is no sight of flying cars; instead, roads are jammed with vehicles emitting harmful gases that are threatening to humans. Technology advancements over the years have reshaped our dreams about the future. Flying cars may take a couple more decades, but the future looks promising, as we are very close to seeing cars that can drive on their own. Technology advancements have proved that machines can be better than humans in certain areas. Which makes us believe that the future of transport is going to be safer with autonomous technology as it helps solve traffic problems, eliminate human errors, and also unlock new possibilities.

With autonomous vehicles on the road, possibilities seem endless. People can indulge in other activities if they are not in charge of the car anymore. Truly enjoying travel doesn’t seem like a dream anymore. All these possibilities change the way cars are going to be treated. This situation throws us a question: how do we treat cars if they are not meant to be driven or partially driven? Automotive industries are very confident about autonomous technology and have already started working towards it.

Usually, the needs and demands of the users drive product designs. These needs keep changing every year, every decade, and so on. And many factors influence and change customer needs and demands from time to time. Technology and culture are two important factors that bring about change. As technology advances, it creates new needs, which could shape a new product. This product may have a cultural impact, which in turn drives technology forward. Things like this result in changes in needs, which are called trends.

The same is true for the automotive industry.In fact, it is more important to understand the user needs and demands in the automotive industry, as it is an expensive and long-term process. It takes 4 to 5 years for a vehicle to get into production from the initial phase of design. By the time the vehicle hits the road, the user may have new needs and demands, and the product may not succeed if it fails to address the new needs. So, to avoid such failures and produce appealing vehicles, designers constantly follow trends. Understanding the current trends in various fields would help designers predict the future trends that are used to design new products.

As the project aims to design a car for the year 2030, the research phase of the project aims to understand past trends and their influences on car design.