Moving Parts
Moving Parts is a thought experiment about the future of autonomous mobility and the city. The ultimate vision of autonomous mobility is getting rid of the dead time of traveling. Travel times should be as short as possible and at the same time not be perceived as travel time at all. The most radical versions of this can be found in concept designs of the car manufacturer Toyota and the design firm IDEO: Self-driving spaces, from offices to kung fu studios. Here, entire spaces of work and everyday life are mobilized. But what is the use of a mobile office once the working day ends and you want to be elsewhere? In this vision „waiting to get somewhere“ shouldn’t exist any more. Instead you should always already be where you want to be. Eventually that is the dream of logistics. In Amazon’s anticipatory shipping patent, goods are delivered to areas where they are statistically likely to be ordered soon. Once they are ordered, they are almost there. The thought experiment „Mobile Parts“ combines the two aspects and envisions a city that is entirely mobilized. Every space of the city is constantly moving, optimizing its position to always be as close as possible to where people will want it. By asking how life would change in this kind of city, the project aims to shed some light on issues relevant for the future of autonomous mobility.