Industrial Design Studio Won the Red Dot Award for the Third Time
8. September 2023The Industrial Design Studio at the FMC of TBU in Zlín has won the prestigious Red Dot Award for the third time. The award is handed out within one of the world’s most important design competitions, the Red Dot Design Award. The winner is Martin Kuchta, a graduate of the Studio, with his Bachelor’s thesis dealing with the design of an autonomous tram called Škoda ForFuture and designed in cooperation with the renowned Czech company – Škoda Group. The award ceremony will take place in the Marina Bay District in Singapore on 27 September 2023.
The award-winning ForFuture autonomous tram offers innovative solutions for smart cities and presents the future of efficient, reliable and sustainable public transportation. “This accomplishment is all the more significant as Martin Kuchta’s design project won in the most popular competition category – Design Concept, which, this year, had been entered by more than 5,000 artists from around the world,” says Assoc. Prof. Martin Surman, ArtD., Head of the Industrial Design Studio and supervisor of the victorious Bachelor’s thesis. “At the same time, it is a reaffirmation of the teaching strategy pursued by the Studio, which is based on close cooperation with manufacturing companies and gives students opportunities to get acquainted with the most progressive technologies and materials, thus enabling them to find innovative design solutions,” adds Assoc. Prof. Martin Surman, ArtD.
Cooperation with students is also of great benefit for the corporate sector. “At Škoda Group, we believe in the power of cooperation and in the importance of growth of a new generation of designers. Clearly, students are the driving force of progress. They bring new perspectives and bold ideas. We are honoured to be part of this journey and provide our expertise, which has helped shape the vision of what the public transport of the future could be like in smart cities,” said Laurent Fromont, Senior Vice President, Rolling Stock Engineering at ŠKODA Group.
Martin Kuchta’s award-winning design of the ForFuture autonomous tram, which is designed for passenger transport in smart cities, uses a unique technological solution for connecting of vehicles, which provides a basis for a number of conceptual innovations, such as the design of the chassis platform, type of drive and power supply, autonomous operation, etc.
The designed tram, which is 17 meters in length and has a capacity of 140 passengers, is able to connect with other vehicles during the journey and, if necessary, increase its total transport capacity. This technological solution makes it possible to assemble a tram from a total of three vehicles with a capacity of up to 420 passengers, whereas, in case of suburban connections, the capacity can be much higher.
The tram is equipped with specialized technological systems which enable a precise and fully automated connection between multiple vehicles without collisions. When vehicles can be connected, the efficiency of using the common track section of different tram lines is significantly increased, which saves energy and is beneficial for environmental protection. At the same time, this technological solution enables the passengers to change fast and comfortably between lines even when travelling.
The design of the tram uses the concept of so-called positive lighting, which reflects studies on trust in autonomous vehicles. The vehicle’s neutral vertical lights are in accordance with this concept, as they are combined with a friendly “smile” and various warning signals that allow communication with other drivers in front of or behind the tram, as well as with pedestrians.
The Red Dot Design Award competition annually includes a total of three design categories, where professional creators as well as students can enter. The first category intended for industrially manufactured products is Product Design, the second category is Brands and Communication Design, and the third category is Design Concept, focused on conceptual design solutions and design prototypes.