The challenge. We were contracted by Puppy Robotics, a brand belonging to Seedland in Beijing to build an autonomous vehicle for Chinese gated communities. It would serve as a last mile solution in smart living neighborhoods.

Before beginning with our mission, we had to ask ourselves the following questions:

• How do you bring an autonomous vehicle from concept to prototype in just 5 months?
• How do you make sure that the car will not only serve as an exhibition model, but will also be a stepping stone for future mass production units?
• And how do you create one of the first AI autopilot systems in China, which is driven without relying on a traditional map-based navigation system?

The outcome. We leveraged the power of Virtual Reality from the early stages of creativity to nail basic proportions and style directions. This also ensured that our client knew precisely what the result would be at any given moment. Seeing the vehicle in its true size, helped us to meaningfully iterate with each new sketch and CAD model. By using multiple single-line radars and smart algorithms, the car can detect the environment, construct a dynamic 3D Map, and simultaneously plan travel routes. It delivers a seamless experience from mobile reservation to facial recognition confirmation, perfect for the fast-growing digitalized Chinese market. Coming up with the ideas, sketches, mockups, manufacturable 3D data, and communication visuals for an entire vehicle in record time, is one of the reasons this earned us the iF design award.