GMC Pad wins California Design Challenge
Stuart reports that the winner of the California Design Challenge was announced today at the L.A. auto show and the GMC Pad emerged victorious. GM describes the concept as an urban loft with mobility, or “a modern alternative for those priced out of Southern California’s escalating housing market.” Who knows where you’d park this mobile home, but the Pad’s diesel-electric hybrid system facilitates the vehicle’s Drive Mode, so you could at least stay on the move to avoid parking tickets.
The Pad also features onboard fuel and water supplies that can last weeks or even months thanks to onboard resource management technology, and while you’re waiting for the water to run out you have Direct TV, OnStar, XM, and Satellite Wi-Fi to keep you company. And get this, the Pad comes standard with a teraflop of onboard memory!
The rear of the Pad is a personal spa created in conjunction with Kohler and there’s a food prep/kitchen area developed with appliances by Thermador. When the confines of the Pad’s interior become to much, occupants can retreat to the SkyDeck on top to enjoy the gawking they’ll no doubt receive from L.A. pedestrians wondering, “Where can I get one of those?”
Tons of pics and full press release with more details on the Pad after the jump…
LA Auto Show \ California Design Challenge
Entry: GMC PAD, General Motors Advanced Design, California
Team Members:
Steve Anderson – Concept & Strategy, Design Manager
Senon B. Franco lll – Exterior Design
Jay Bernard – Interior Design
Digital Modeling:
Phil Tanioka, Sidney Levy, Brian Horton & Alessandro Zezza
Color:
Christine Ebner
Studio Director:
Frank Saucedo
Affordable Housing in LA?
The GMC PAD, an urban loft with mobility, a concept for living in the ever-changing cultural landscape of Southern California or, quite simply, a modern alternative for those priced out of Southern California’s escalating housing market. It’s a home ownership concept that enables cultural & geographic freedom for the modern city dweller. It’s a concept that represents a reasoned solution to the problems of urban sprawl, development, and it’s damaging effects on the region’s environment.
Why Commute?
With the PAD, your LA Adventure is your next stop. It’s where you live, where you work, or merely where you want to be. Whether located in walking distance from your job @ TBWA\Chiat\Day, spending a couple evenings along PCH, or wintering at Mammoth, with the GMC PAD, home is where you want it. And commuting is what other people do.
Sensible.
The GMC PAD features a Diesel-Electric hybrid system, which acts as a generator for the onboard power grid as well as propulsion for DriveMode. With the PAD’s resource management technology, onboard fuel & water supplies would last for weeks or even months on end. During daylight hours, the PAD’s SkyDeck features 6 M-Sq of photovoltaic cells that collect and store the sun’s natural energy. An electromagnetic suspension aids in leveling & stabilization when the PAD is being used in the LifeMode as well as remarkably easy handling while in DriveMode.
Life, connected.
Direct TV, OnStar, XM Satellite Wi-Fi and are continually online to provide an endless variety of entertainment, information and security options and the PAD’s LCD interior architecture creates a media rich environment unlike any other. Electronically variable exterior glazing means privacy is always at your fingertips. The PAD’s rearmost area is devoted to a personal spa created in conjunction with Kohler. The food prep / kitchen area features a full suite of PAD-specific appliances developed by Thermador and, with a teraflop of on board memory, the digital life has never been so deep & abundant.
Adapt.
The PAD has also been created with modularity in mind. As such, the vehicle could easily be adapted for use in government roles such as disaster response and emergency housing as well as public sector uses such as Star Waggons for the entertainment industry or on-site management offices for events, construction, and media.
Enjoy.
For outdoor living, the PAD features an integrated SkyDeck for enjoying the sights & sounds of LA culture.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Terrenteller 1:35AM (2/11/2006)
I wonder how much something like that is...
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Davis 10:04AM (3/02/2006)
I lived in Brazil, now tell me is this thing for real??
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Carlos (Seville,Spain) 6:15AM (3/19/2006)
2 questions:
1 Is GMC going to manufacture this? I want one so bad
2 Will I have to contract a Car Insurance or a House Insurance?
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ERNEST EDWARDS 7:15AM (4/02/2006)
Whats the price on the PAD???
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ERNEST EDWARDS 7:18AM (4/02/2006)
What's the total square footage of the vehicle? How many people does it sleep? Are there the same parking restrictions as a regular RV? Whats the wait time on an order?
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Todd Warren 3:27PM (4/10/2006)
BFD. It's just a high tech RV, but won't you look cool when you're camping out in the Wal-Mart parking lot with the other RVers.
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Chris 9:25PM (9/23/2008)
We've just featured the Pad - and the fabulous original GMC Motorhome - on squob.com.
The GMC went out of production exactly thirty years ago - still looks supercool!
Chris
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David 1:12PM (12/05/2006)
Seems the only flop in the design was the way they chose to store the data...eh eh?
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Scott S. McCoy 6:30PM (12/10/2006)
How about some non-distorted photos of the interior.
I live in a yacht in downtown Seattle, it seems quite comparable (although I only have a hot shower instead of a personal "spa" and it's not quite as high tech). This seems like the same thing and like it would have the same problems....where the hell do you park this thing? :-)
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Charles G 9:38PM (1/15/2007)
When will this vehicle go public? How much?
I'd like more technical info and better photos!!! (please put in non-distorted photos)
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Lithous 2:42PM (1/05/2006)
Do they mean terabyte?
Because it's gigabyte of RAM not a gigaflog.
That thing is kinda Aztek ugly. But I want one too.
GM needs to some how incorporate this into the show Lost. I mean, they could drive it out of the ground in the final episode and tell everyone that this was the hatch bunker and that that green screen looked like a crappy old computer but has a terabyte of RAM and was capable of generating monsters in the jungle and crap. Come on GM, perfect marketing opportunity. :)
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Lithous 2:49PM (1/05/2006)
Sorry, gigaflop not gigaflog. I wish we could edit our own posts.
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Justin Hollabaugh 3:54PM (1/05/2006)
FLOPS - FL-oating point O-perations P-er S-econd
1 teraflop = 1,000,000,000,000 operations per second.
A typical x86 desktop computer is capable of a few gigaflops.
Point is... FLOPS have nothing to do with storage. A teraflop of computing power seems excessive (not that it is a bad thing) but a terabyte of storage (think hard drives or maybe even solid state memory like your USB "thumb drive" or iPod Nano) would be quite useful and is quite doable. Hell, all you need are four 250GB hard drives (solid state is harder though not necessarily better).
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Lithous 9:22PM (1/05/2006)
"Point is... FLOPS have nothing to do with storage"
Exactly my point. I was assuming the " of onboard memory" was correct but the flops part was wrong and you seem to assume the flops part was correct and the " of onboard memory" was a mistake or something.
When I saw the word "memory" I stated RAM and I stated that we all know of 1 gigabytes of RAM therefore the sentence should state " terabyte of onboard memory".
But if you took 4 250GB hard drives (or a thumb drive) would they be considered "onboard MEMORY"? I have never thought of hard drives as memory, of course, unless you are talking about Virtual Memory and file paging.
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n8 11:03PM (1/05/2006)
I love the design. It's completely ass-backward in the way that most concepts are, but there's a lot to love. Particularly ass-backward since some of the drawings seem a little confused about which end is the front (and why they put four wheels in the front I have no idea). Some other strange choices - why put a kitchen in? Most yyuppies I know barely use their kitchen at all. A bathroom on the other hand would probably be a good idea. As would a shower. And why not put some of that wrap-around seeting on the roof too? Make for a cozy little spot to have some hot chocolate. And the 'personal spa' in the rear? Maybe that's where the crapper is, but it doesn't look like that woman is on the lou. Seems like wasted space to me.
Of course the worst part of the concept is that any city that has too little affordable housing is probably going to have too little parking as well. And where are you going to park this thing when you're working? In any case, it's better than that converted school bus with a wood stove that I tried to live in back in 1991...kids today have it so much easier.
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fasternu426 11:45PM (1/05/2006)
Hey it's the answer to the question nobody asked!
Anybody remember the movie Damnation Alley?? Makes me think of the thing they were driving around in.
If someone broke into it would you file burglary of a habitation charges or burglary of a residence?
Wow, you would only have to have one key to lose!
I hope they make it so people who drive an Aztek will have someone to make fun of.
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fasternu426 12:02AM (1/06/2006)
If someone broke into it would you file burglary of a habitation charges or burglary of a residence?
OOps, that should be:
If someone broke into it would you file burglary of a habitation charges or burglary of motor vehicel????
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snack 2:15PM (1/08/2006)
Reminds me of ARK II
http://www.70slivekidvid.com/ark.htm
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