Nissan has taken the wraps off the future electric concept car, the Nissan GT-R (X) 2050. The car was originally created by a young designer named Jaebum “JB” Choi from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena as part of his thesis – a vision of the future on a hypothetical electric car of 2050.
It has now been converted to a full-scale model thanks to the help of Nissan Design America, where Choi was interned earlier this year. He selected a vehicle with a rebel soul – the Nissan GT-R – for a design study in a future autonomous era when machines can embody a driver’s emotion through a physical connection.
Interestingly, the Nissan GT-R (X) 2050 is very small: 2908 mm long, 1537 mm wide, and 658 mm high. The single occupant, the driver, rests horizontally in a “prone” position with limbs extended in an X-shape. The driver wears a futuristic, form-fitting suit and helmet that resembles a superbike riders’ protective helmets and leathers.
The future electric concept car connects the engine to the driver’s brain via a special suit and futuristic helmet. The driver will think about what to do so that this Nissan car will respond quickly. The helmet was designed to be inserted into a slot for the front vision camera shared with VR vision. A brain-to-core transmitter would help the human brain activate digitalized signals.
Choi imagines the vehicle’s one-piece wheel/tire units as having a shape close to a square, allowing the vehicle to turn 360 degrees. The outer tire diameter measures 21 inches, and the inner wheel circle is 15 inches. The wheels’ spoke pattern was designed to help the wheel cool down fast, even under extreme braking. The concept car also deploys an active wing that would add downforce when extended. The wings fold so the driver can get in and out of the car.
Although the car seems to have little to do with the GT-R, there are really some GT-R-like design elements in the car. For example, its bold, dramatic surfaces, monolithic body volumes, and V-motion design features. It also has iconic GT-R taillights and red-striped accents of the GT-R NISMO.
“JB is a super-talented, super-creative designer, and his ideas about future supercars driven by brain-to-vehicle integration fit perfectly with Nissan’s advanced work in the B2V field,” said NDA Vice President David Woodhouse. “His thesis was all about demonstrating the emotional connection technology can create and the benefit that it can deliver for customers. It was super exciting for the NDA team to help JB give form to this idea as a 1:1 model.”
Since this is still in the design study development stage, there is no news about the specifications of the Nissan GT-R (X) 2050. But it is expected to be a high-performance electric car.
