QFD and SDE Methods Applied to Autonomous Minibus Redesign and an Innovative Mobile Charging System (MBS)

Abstract

Urban mobility scenarios are constantly evolving, and today’s solutions may not be adequate in the future. Through innovative analysis and design methods encapsulated by the IDeS methodology, it is possible to plausibly hypothesize a number of key scenarios to be analyzed, for which vehicles can be designed in order to solve the main problems. Scenarios such as the steady growth in public mobility, based on the sharing of electric mini-buses at the expense of the privatization of the means of transport, lead to the gradual rethinking of citizens’ needs and the supporting infrastructure. Problems such as the lack of privacy of public vehicles, the efficiency of the infrastructure and recharging modes of e-buses, and autonomous driving are addressed here through methods such as QFD (quality function deployment) and SDE (stylistic design engineering), with the aim of outlining a proposal that, to date, is futuristic but is designed to be concrete and feasible within the next decade. These methodologies were applied to the design of a sustainable urban transport system consisting of an electric mini-bus, effected by rethinking the layout of the interior spaces in favor of areas enabling greater privacy and a mobile recharging system (MBS) capable of offering a new management strategy for the non-stop recharging phase. Through the use of an MBS, which functions as a mobile ‘energy bank’ module that is capable of autonomously reaching a mini-bus in need of recharging and extending its autonomy by connecting and recharging it, the proposed system can potentially be enabled to perform its required service during the day without any need to spend time making intermediate stops for the purpose of recharging.