Honda commissioned Map Project Office and Mori Inc to come up with an idea for seven concept vehicles that could undertake a journey from Africa to Latin America, travelling over 36,000 km from Nairobi, Kenya to Manaus, Brazil through desert, mountains, snow and water. This project presents Honda’s future vision for autonomous driving technology in a context of enhancing ‘the joy of mobility’. It’s lighthearted and dreamy in its execution.
The first leg of the journey is undertaken from Nairobi to Khartoum in a safari camper van that has a robotic grass-cutter that clears the way ahead.
Map came up with the idea of the desert train to continue the journey from Khartoum to Karachi, Pakistan.
The desert train is powered by Honda’s fuel cell technology. Map’s idea is that any excess water produced by the engine will get filtered back into a water container at the back of the vehicle.
The next part of the trip is from Karachi to Shenzen, China and so a mountain climbing vehicle is needed to negotiate the Himalayas
Most of the technology that’s incorporated in these concept vehicles come from what Map’s design team saw at the Honda Collection Hall, outside of Tokyo. Such as these robotic legs based on Honda’s robot, Asimo.
Next the journey continues from Shezen to Kamchatka Peninsula in this Island Hopper.
The Island Hopper is an amphibious vehicle that can paddle on water and drive on dry land and is powered exclusively by solar energy.
Map conceptualised a tundra sled pulled by six electric drones to navigate from Kamchatka to Fairbanks, Alaska.
The drones are based on Honda’s UNI-CUB, a self-balancing scooter. These drones will also be able to detect any cracks in the ice.
It comes with a little jacuzzi and telescope too!
The next section is completed in this road tripper, from Fairbanks down the US west coast to Mexico.
It has lots of glass so that passengers can enjoy the views.
Then it’s in to the six-wheeled Jungle Jumper to navigate from Mexico city to Manaus, Brazil.
The yellow capsule is a small living space that can be pulled into the trees.
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