Gordon Murray Design reveals new autonomous mobility platform

Gordon Murray Design (GMD) and partners Delta Motorsport and itMoves has unveiled a new autonomous vehicle platform at the MOVE 2020 show.

The MOTIV is an ultra-light, fully-electric single occupancy vehicle designed for people who currently travel in cars with no passengers.

Its small footprint and light weight of less than 450Kg (excluding batteries) means it is classed as a quadricycle yet conforms to the same safety requirements as a car.

Designed with autonomy in mind, MOTIV was created to provide the versatility of either personal transportation or last-mile deliveries.

In its goods transportation form, the platform can be altered to enable maximum load capacity, creating a volume of more than 1,100 litres.

For Mobility as a Service (MaaS) providers, MOTIV is ready for immediate adaptation to driverless use with any form of autonomous technology. To support its transition to autonomous road use, the consortium aims to partner with autonomous technology providers for multiple pilot studies. Following this final development phase, and dependent on application and legislation, the vehicle could be ready for mass production within two to five years.

MOTIV is powered by a 20kW electric motor, and will be equipped with a 17.3kWh liquid-cooled battery pack providing a potential range of up to 62 miles. It will operate at speeds of up to 40mph, making it ideal for operating in urban and suburban locations. It is equipped with CCS charging capability and can recharge from 20% to 80% battery in just 40 minutes.

Professor Gordon Murray CBE, chairman of Gordon Murray Group, said: “MOTIV has the potential to transform future mobility. The best way to make any vehicle commercially viable and cost-effective, while delivering first-class efficiency, is to make it as light as it can be while retaining the highest levels of safety. With MOTIV we have used our iStream technologies to create an ultra-lightweight body structure that delivers a vehicle that is compact, refined, safe and versatile, while remaining capable of significant range.”

Electrification, hybridisation, and vehicle dynamics specialist Delta Motorsport is responsible for MOTIV’s power, motors and control systems. The platform uses Delta’s drive-by wire dedicated vehicle control architecture that operates the steering, propulsion and braking.

Advanced mobility and innovation specialist itMoves was responsible for the vision behind MOTIV, including the vehicle concept, strategy usability and visual image. The design of the vehicle is contemporary, while also remaining compact and city friendly. The interior of the vehicle provides an easy-to-access, comfortable space with an integrated HVAC system and room to perch a laptop.

As a development test bed for autonomous systems, GMD says MOTIV’s autonomous-ready design is far easier for companies to convert than a conventional vehicle. Typically, a conversion of a regular vehicle to become autonomous requires more hardware, more time and has obvious compromises – conventional vehicles are comparatively large, cumbersome and inefficient.

As MOTIV was purpose-built as a platform for autonomy, testing of its driverless capabilities can begin from launch, which gives it the potential to be the first fully-autonomous single seater pod available on the market.

MOTIV is on display at the MOVE ‘Mobility Re-imagined’ show on 11-12 February at the ExCeL in London on the Gordon Murray Design stand.