Story 03 · Empathy

Google Community Vehicle

“Why is future mobility only imagined for people in megacities?”

Client: Michelin Challenge Design
My role: Designer, Indian design team
Year: 2015 – 2016
Type: Award-winning concept

Why is future mobility only imagined for rich people in megacities?

60% of India lives in villages, and most of them farm. They feed over a billion people, and they are the ones future mobility forgets.

We went to the villages first.

We spent time with farmers to understand their days. The problems were clear: little access to farming knowledge, medical help too far away, bad roads, middlemen eating their profits, no income in the off-season.

So the question became: could one vehicle empower a whole community?

Hand-drawn research storyboard of rural problems and ideas

India, 2025. A day with Ram.

We told the idea as a story, following one farmer through one day.

Morning

Ram is a proud, educated farmer. His vehicle is his farm tool, and a lot more.

01 / 05

Medical staff using the vehicle as an emergency carrier

Noon

A man is injured nearby. The hospital is too far, so it calls the nearest community vehicle. Ram answers.

02 / 05

Villagers riding together in the back of the vehicle at sunset

Afternoon

Off-season, the vehicle becomes a taxi. Seats face each other, so people talk. His earnings keep his family going through drought.

03 / 05

Night

Power cut, as usual. The headlamp detaches as a lantern, and the engine powers the house.

04 / 05

The vehicle as a market stall in a busy village street

Next morning

Ram drives his produce to the city and sells it himself. No middleman.

05 / 05

Simple outside. Clever inside.

A scissor-like frame sends road shocks into the front engine chassis, so passengers and patients ride smoothly on bad roads. A segmented “momentum” wheel absorbs bumps without losing speed, and is easy to repair in the village.

Lock mechanism diagram for the floating carrier

Dashboard showing an accident-nearby alert

A system where everyone wins.

Farmers get the vehicle at a subsidised cost through a Google community programme. In return they help in emergencies. Every genuine rescue earns citizen credits for better seeds at lower prices.

Google Loon balloons connect the villages, bringing weather data and farming knowledge, and linking hospitals to the nearest vehicle.

Top view of the vehicle in a village street

Raj receiving the Michelin Challenge Design award

Michelin Challenge Design · 2016

First place, and the first Indian team ever to win.

The Google Community Vehicle went on to receive several more design awards.

What I took away

Mobility can empower the people future mobility forgets.

The best ideas often start far away from the places we usually design for.

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