The shape of this thing reminds me of one of those desktop calculator apps that have on-screen number keys. Physical calculators need number keys, or else there’s no way to enter numbers, but a device with a keyboard doesn’t need a bunch of number keys that no one is ever going to click on. They’re just decoration, and there’s no reason to add them aside from telling people “hey, this is a calculator”.
Likewise a vehicle like the electric Hummer (or the Rivian truck and SUV) doesn’t need that visibility- and pedestrian-killing codpiece that they have mounted over the electric drivetrain (which likely doesn’t extend beyond the envelope of the wheel wells). There’s no need for it except to tell people “hey, this is a truck”. Except in this case it’s a design element that is literally killing an increasing number of people every year[1], not just a bit of wasted screen real estate.
I really hope this design language eventually goes the way of way of the Landau[2], either by way of some forward-thinking EV designer who doesn’t keep copying the mistakes of ICE vehicles, or that people finally wake up to how utterly ridiculous these vehicles look[3], or by way of some kind of minimal standards around forward visibility[4] and pedestrian injury potential.
Likewise a vehicle like the electric Hummer (or the Rivian truck and SUV) doesn’t need that visibility- and pedestrian-killing codpiece that they have mounted over the electric drivetrain (which likely doesn’t extend beyond the envelope of the wheel wells). There’s no need for it except to tell people “hey, this is a truck”. Except in this case it’s a design element that is literally killing an increasing number of people every year[1], not just a bit of wasted screen real estate.
I really hope this design language eventually goes the way of way of the Landau[2], either by way of some forward-thinking EV designer who doesn’t keep copying the mistakes of ICE vehicles, or that people finally wake up to how utterly ridiculous these vehicles look[3], or by way of some kind of minimal standards around forward visibility[4] and pedestrian injury potential.
[1] https://www.codot.gov/safety/traffic-safety-pulse/2019/march... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landau_(automobile) [3] https://twitter.com/verge/status/1318208829675491329 [4] https://twitter.com/ItsMcMikeTime/status/1296801390862446597...