Build us the classic car of tomorrow!
04/23/2019
Modern cars are becoming increasingly complex, the materials used more exotic and computers and software more omnipresent. No wonder many people, including experts and engineers, no longer believe that today's cars can still be maintained and kept running in 30 or 50 years' time. It is even rumored that some car parts have "expiration dates" and will not survive a certain period of time.
But what would a car look like today that could still be driven and kept running in 30 or 50 years' time?
Firstly, it would have to be designed in such a way that it can still be repaired tomorrow without the need for a robot infrastructure. Materials and shapes would have to be such that they could be reproduced. Computer processors and circuits would have to be designed openly and be based on standard technologies wherever possible. The software itself would have to be "open source" (i.e. the source code would have to be open) so that it can later be transferred to hardware available at the time. Bus systems should also be open and transparent.
The technical components, e.g. brakes and suspension parts, should also be designed as simply as possible and ideally also be used in mass-produced vehicles to ensure the supply of spare parts.
And does anyone build such cars today? Perhaps to some extent. Morgan, Caterham or Lotus have to go down this route for economic reasons alone, but they are also dependent on today's suppliers and mass-produced car manufacturers. And they have to comply with standards that sometimes lead to complex designs.
But perhaps the "open source" car would be perfectly marketable and there would be enough people who would be interested in a car designed for a long service life ...
