Toyota’s Odd uBox Concept Is The Car For Next-Gen Driver’s Needs

Something worth considering is the question of how the generational gap will influence the place of the automobile in society. It’s a question Toyota has considered, evidently, and has resulted in the uBox Concept.

It two-year development was a study in how the next generation of drivers will approach the car and how it will best fit into their lives. For this, Toyota had outside help from the Clemson University in South Carolina and their International Centre for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), with their partnership dubbed ‘Deep Orange’.

The vehicle is, as you can see, a little more than odd looking, but is designed to reflect the shift towards the car having to fit different roles in the future. It’s electric, obviously, and aimed at Generation Z – youngsters who have just recently or are about to receive/apply for their driver’s license. More exacting details on the powertrain are not available, however.

They figure a car like this would be something that the next wave of car buyers will be expecting. The project brief stipulated that the car should be aimed at a young 20-something entrepreneur, able to provide said owner with room to work productively (and remotely) during the week and cater to their recreational needs during the weekend.

That being said, it’s far from the boring beige boxes that we’ve been associating some cars of the future with. Instead, the uBox Concept is big: riding high with big wheels and tyres, flared arches and a panoramic roof.

The uBox’s interior is meant to be modular with the two rows of seats being on rails running the length of the cabin and are able to be moved individually to make room for extra cargo, rear legroom or for the front passengers to stretch out to get some work done on their laptop.

Dashboard trim is 3D printed and the surfaces are to be customisable – the Concept’s chequered interior panel patterning looks rather foul, though, but to each their own. The interior also has sockets handy for changing up various gadgets.

This partnership with Toyota has allowed the students to be involved in virtually every aspect of the uBox’s development, from the market research, conceptualising, design and engineering, and finally manufacturing – all crucial to getting the each generation invested in cars and shaping the landscape the future of personal transportation.