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The c,mm,n project
c,mm,n is an initiative of the Dutch society for nature and environment and the Dutch technical universities of Delft, Twente and Eindhoven. Together they have created c,mm,n; a sustainable automobility concept targeted at future urbanized western Europe. c,mm,n was presented, with the help of many industry partners, at the Amsterdam motorshow in March 2007. c,mm,n is an open-source community for future sustainable automobility. The community is created to empower and educate the future consumer to give them more control over their mobility. The car and various services that enhance personal mobility are in development within the community. Our vision of the future contains three main factors. First is the ”controlled networked society”; ict networks have influenced the way we communicate and has reshaped and increased our need for mobility. Second is “economized sustainability”: our demand for natural resources will increase more than the offer. Therefore ecological sustainability will actually become an economic motive rather than a constraint. In our complex interconnected social networks we thrive on social integration and the richness of the diversity that results out of it on the long term. With increasing need for mobility and our need for a more collectivistic social society the original icon car (freedom, independence, discovery, masculine, individualistic) as we have known it, will have faded away. Future urbanized generations will not have known empty roads or cars without constraints or negative side effects. This challenges us to redefine the icon car. The result is c,mm,n. We aim to develop c,mm,n open-source. That means that the blueprints are free to be used for any application, provided that derived work is shared in the same way. This changes the focus of the car towards its use. Therefore the car is aimed at services that enable people to individually profit from a collaborative effort. A good example is the exterior of the car. Besides offering ecological advantages through the application of recyclable thermoplastic surfaces and very good aerodynamic performance it also offers the means to cooperate on the road. The car is friendly, open and easy to approach but should as well be noticeable and interesting enough to attract the attention so that he or she can initiate interaction between people. The aerodynamics of the car have been optimized for ”platooning”, drive closely behind each other under control of the car's safety systems. Users in the platoon benefit from sharing air resistance by decreasing fuel consumption while doing other things in your car while it drives itself. The interior of the car is designed to improve communication between people. The system responds to people's orientation, posture and other non-verbal movements by providing information and control suitable to people's mindset. With that it helps people to gain insight in their relation with the community at that time, motivating them to collaborate. The c,mm,n car runs on a fuel cell powered with renewable hydrogen. The energy from the fuel cell is used to power the electric in-wheel motors. These engines can also be used for regenerative braking. The energy that is regained is stored in supercaps to be used again when the car accelerates. An alternative drive train is a mild-hybrid combustion engine on hydrogen that is able to run on two cilinders. A demo-chassis with the Fuel Cell drive-train was presented at the Amsterdam motorshow. c,mm,n is now an open-source platform on which the car is further developed by the three universities and any other enthusiast interested in future automobility. c,mm,n aims at a roadworthy concept car on the next Amsterdam motorshow in 2009. The effort now concentrates on developing a web platform to support development and on creating teams that take on development. People that are interested in these efforts can contact Jacco Lammers through sending an e-mail to .
Designers (all Dutch)
- Branding, business case, Architecture and package: Jacco Lammers
- Exterior Design: Remco Timmer
- Combustion engine drive train and Cylinder Deactivation: Gilbert Peters & Bart de Vries
- Physical Interior Concept: Neele Kistemaker
- Interface Interior Concept: Caroline Klop
- Fuelcell Powertrain: Niels Scheffer & Stefan van Loenhout
- Suspension: Martin Leegwater
- Back casting study: Jeroen Terlouw
- Safety Systems: Lucien de Baere
- ADAS and Road Assistant: Jos Thalen
- Powertrain Interface: Gert-Jan Endeman
Initiators
Society for Nature and Environment (Stichting Natuur en Milieu) Delft University of Technology Eindhoven University of Technology University of Twente
Main partners
Athlon Car Lease is one of the largest car lease companies of the Netherlands with over 110,000 cars. They intend to continuously find the best solutions for all mobility issues in a sympathetic and independent way. Therefore they consider the (im)possibilities of future mobility. From their leading position in the market they take their corporate responsibility by balancing people, planet and profit. Rabobank is a main partner of the development of the sustainable c,mm,n car. The bank is the most sustainable in Europe and innovative in sustainable mobility. As a big employer, Rabobank intends to contribute to solving the problems around mobility. With c,mm,n they want to show what sustainable alternatives can offer.
General information
- Name: c,mm,n (pronounce as you like)
- Website: cmmn.org
- Contact: or
- Mantra: free mobility
- Dimensions: 3800mm x 1750mm x 1500mm (LxWxH)
- Materials: ALU chassis, recycleable thermoplastic body, natural fibres
External links
check www.cmmn.eu
In the meantime check www.cmmn.eu for more in-depth info on c,mm,n. All relevant info in the Blue Bar at the bottom of this site is available in english.
