The World’s Greatest Automotive Challenge

[JPK]

Back some time ago I wrote a short story on an alternative future of the development of the automobile as we know it. It involved a new nation of unlimited funds offering contracts to any worthy manufacturer to create a series of personal cars for its people. The year I had planned was originally 1911 the year of the Indy 500 and the Colt 1911. The concept would allow virtually everyone access to an affordable automobile and one that would have been reliable.
Here is a list of some of the requirements for a single seat personal vehicle:
Can be a three or 4 wheeled vehicle made as small as physically possible essentially a car one wears rather then moves around.
Has to be extremely reliable requiring essentially no maintenance; a car that can last 1000 years and millions of miles
The body must be corrosion proof thus will no rot or rust and the same for the frame even in salt water environments
The vehicle must have a locking way of entry from the inside and outside.
The car must be a fully enclosed hardtop that can protect occupants in all weather and features thin pillars and a large glass area for visibility.
The vehicle must have an externally locking storage area that can provide internal cargo a climate similar to the driving compartment
The car has to have a locking access port to maintenance the mechanicals.
The car has to be capable of driving to at least 65mph
The car must be capable of driving at least 60 miles a day.
The car should get over 100mpg
The car must be capable of driving 420 miles without a refuel.
The car must structurally sound at speeds of 130mph
The car must have corrosion proof metal bumpers that will not show damage at collisions at or below 5mph
The interior must have a fabric lining and a cushioned driver’s seat.
The interior must have a rubberized floor mat.
The car must have an adjustable driver’s seat that can accommodate drivers as short as 4.5ft
The vehicle must feature a center mounted electric powered interior lamp that can illuminate by switch or the opening of the entry door.
The dash must be illuminated and show important telemetry such as speed in mph and kmh by needle gauge and must include an odometer that reads up to 999,999.9 miles and a resettable trip odometer, fuel gauge, a way to tell if the engine is too cold or hot for operation, a tachometer, and honestly the more telemetry the better.
The vehicle must feature corrosion proof detachable steel disc rims will rubberized tires
The vehicle must include a spare rim/tire internally
The vehicle must include steering easily enough to be turned with one hand
If the vehicle should include an accelerator pedal and brake pedal they should be easily enough to use with one foot.
The maximum stopping distance from 60mph should be 189 feet.
The vehicle must have breaks that can easily be replaced on all wheels
The vehicle should have headlamps on the corners on the vehicle to indicate vehicle size that can illuminate at least 100 feet of roadway on low setting and 500 feet on high setting without blinding on coming motorists
The vehicle should have what we call tail lamps today and reverse lamps.
The vehicle should have blinkers or indicators
Should have 2 external rear view mirrors one on each side and then one inside
Should have a powered windshield wiper and manual backup
Must have an electric start and a backup manual start system
Must have windows that can be lowered allowing for an operator to use a sill as an armrest
There should be a locking access panel to refuel the vehicle
If the vehicle features a gas engine it must not require valve adjustments, carburetor adjustments, and virtually no oil changes, should be capable to travel millions of miles and must not rust. Multi-fuel fuel capability is a plus and must be capable of running in all angles. The engine must not overheat in use or stationary. Mechanical fuel pump and fuel filter. Oil filter must be included. If the engine is to be a 2 cycle it must have a system that can add the oil to the air-fuel mixture without having the operator mix oil and fuel. If the engine is to be liquid cooled it must be a sealed system that does not require maintenance. The engine must feature an automatic ignition advance.
If the vehicle is to be electric powered it must have a reliable electric motor and power pack that can be recharged on various standard wall currents without requiring a stationary charger. The battery pack should last as long as the vehicle and maintenance free but be accessible to be replaced.
The way the car the car operates should be in the same fashion as a modern day automatic transmission with a column shifter.
The vehicle should have a climate control system that can provide forced air heating and ventilation through vents on the interior.
The vehicle must be capable of driving in all climates on earth.
The vehicle should have at least 2 drive wheels.
It is suggested the car should feature controls that an operator who is paralyzed could use as well such as all hand controls. A throttle governor is also an important feature to include.
If anyone wants to take up the challenge I would be glad to see the results.

[Eric.B]

Some of the in Car Specs in game are broken right now. 100mpg would be easy to hit, 60mph on the other hand wouldn't be

I think it's a good challenge, I just need to fix some of the code before its viable in game.


In the real world, I can see a culture where no one owns a car in two or three generations. Making the world's greatest challenge moot. Instead you think about needing a car. Your data device calls for a car which drives to your door, you hop in, go where you want, and the vehicle leaves you there. Such systems are cheap when you combine them with electric motors they'll have such low overhead that even barren places like where I live would have them.

[Arakash]

Interesting post, ive got some suggestions/comments.

Just on the post structure:
For this amount of text, you really need to split it into paragraphs otherwise it is very hard to read.
Also, i would recommend either using one of the bullet/numbering features on the forums, or just adding 1. 2. 3. before everything yourself. It will not only be easier to read, it wil be far easier to discuss as we can say e.g. "no3 looks like it will be hard".

Onto the actual challenge:
While a lot of the parameters you set could be reached with designs in the game, quite a lot of them are beyond the scope of the game. i.e. there is no set of sliders or adjustments that mention or even suggest some of them.
They may be of interest for roleplaying, or perhaps as suggestions for inclusions into the game, but they should be in a list outside of the main one.

Some examples:

- Must have windows that can be lowered allowing for an operator to use a sill as an armrest
- The car has to have a locking access port to maintenance the mechanicals.
- The vehicle must have a locking way of entry from the inside and outside.
- The vehicle must include a spare rim/tire internally
and many more

Some of them dont even need to be mentioned, as all Gearcity vehicles fall in their category. e.g.

- The vehicle should have at least 2 drive wheels.

[JPK]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Eric B.: I can see a future without automobiles owned by the majority of people as well but the concern will always be safety since electronic devices can always be compromised. It would be easy to pick someone up and make them vanish.

Arakash: Yeah this post was really just a paste of a whole bunch of requirements I could remember from the short story; luckily I did not include all of the information.

If anyone would like to take the challenge in anytime like 1900 or 1950 give it a shot.