![]() Metal mesh and ABS plastic sheets will be slapped over vents and light graphics to cover their shape without sacrificing too much functionality. Vacuum molded hard parts riveted to body work to hide the overall form, foam pieces stuck to the bodywork to confuse the surfacing, and the wrap which covers the whole thing in a psychedelic pattern meant to fool eyeballs and cameras into misreading the shape. Prototype camo consists of three main parts. See the problem? Here’s What Goes Into Prototype Camo Hiding that spoiler? Now the aero is fouled up. Want to cover up your trick new air vents? Yeah, you’re impacting the performance of the cooling system. The problem is the designers and marketing team want to hide as much as possible the engineering and test teams want to hide as little as possible, because anything attached to the sheet metal affects its performance and test results. Designers are even responsible for the camouflage used to disguise a new model’s appearance until it’s time for the grand reveal as a climax to a long marketing strip tease. What’s this thing, then? /du5vjTA0YSĮverything concerned with the appearance of a car, whether interior or exterior, falls within the purview of the design studio, that highly secure sanctum buried deep within an OEM’s R&D center. In the past, scoop photographers needed insider knowledge, patience and a very long lens these days smartphones and the internet have turned watchful enthusiasts into new model paparazzi. Hacked up development mules are built to test the engineering components, usually under whatever existing body can be butchered to fit, but eventually you need to start driving the actual car on real roads. Initial road testing and component validation will be done on private test tracks, secluded from the gaze of people who want to splash your new model over their front-page years before you’re ready to show it. Test drivers try to kill a car to make sure it doesn’t kill you. Prototype cars need to be tested, tweaked, calibrated and generally flogged to death in extreme climate environments that would have sane people booking the next flight back to civilization. This can all be tested in a secure lab away from prying eyes. ![]() With a washing machine, so long as it doesn’t leak, can complete a prescribed number of wash cycles over its lifetime and doesn’t explode when you load it with knickers and detergent you’re probably good to ship. But, at some point, the rubber quite literally has to hit the road. Getting there takes an enormous engineering effort and countless hours of testing both real and virtual, in labs and workshops and on the private test track. Successfully achieving all of this is why it takes four or five years to get a car from swishy sketch to something you can walk into a showroom and plonk down a check for. It’s Hard To Camouflage A Car Without Affecting Its Functionality The modern passenger vehicle is an engineering miracle. Oh, and if it will start every morning that’d be peachy. ![]() It has to get by on minimal maintenance, hopefully be nice to look at and easy to operate, affordable to purchase and be stamped out by the thousand on tiny profit margins with no variation in quality. Think about it at least 3000 individual parts made of different materials various alloys, plastics, rubbers and fabrics make up intricate systems that all have to work together seamlessly to make sure the thing doesn’t rattle itself apart, keeps its occupants safe and comfortable and fulfill its intended function of fitting into your life and enabling you to get shit done with a minimum of fuss. Here’s how my team did it.Ĭars are by some margin the most complex consumer grade products you can buy. Adding camouflage to disguise a test car is not a life-and-death matter in the same way hiding a tank is, but as a car designer I took the task just as seriously. People do way worse things to their cars which means you have to test a new car out in the real world where everyone has a camera connected to the Internet in their pocket. People do not treat cars like they treat washing machines. If you want to build the world’s newest and most exciting washing machine you can test it in a lab until it’s time to release it.
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