Yashasri Portfolio

Yashasri Sadagopan

Yashasri Sadagopan

Rural India - Future of Mobility

Rural India - Future of Mobility

Rural India - Future of Mobility

Design Research

Design Research

Design Research

Team : Isha Ghaisas, Yashasri Sadagopan

Role : Design Research and Strategy

Timeline : March-April 2023

Tutor: Guy Colborne , Tutor - Intelligent Mobility at the RCA

Team : Isha Ghaisas, Yashasri Sadagopan

Role : Design Research and Strategy

Timeline : March-April 2023

Tutor: Guy Colborne , Tutor - Intelligent Mobility at the RCA

Team : Isha Ghaisas, Yashasri Sadagopan

Role: Design Research and Strategy

Timeline : March-April 2023

Tutor: Guy Colborne , Tutor - Intelligent Mobility at the RCA

Brief

We worked with the MA Intelligent Mobility department for this project. The brief provided to us was to design a visionary small car ecosystem for the future which would be a projection of either (i) a current brand or (ii) a new brand (can be a vehicle brand or another consumer brand).
We decided to focus on rural India with an approximate time period of 2040 and the future of car service ecosystem in this setting.

We worked with the MA Intelligent Mobility department for this project. The brief provided to us was to design a visionary small car ecosystem for the future which would be a projection of either (i) a current brand or (ii) a new brand (can be a vehicle brand or another consumer brand).
We decided to focus on rural India with an approximate time period of 2040 and the future of car service ecosystem in this setting.

Research Phase
A. Villages as self-sustained innovation hubs

Research Phase
A. Villages as self-sustained innovation hubs

We began researching on future of rural India in different sectors and then look into how that would impact mobility. We envision that rural India has the opportunity to develop itself in a sustainable way, keeping its tradition alive instead of copying the urban approach.
Rural India would consist of self-sufficient villages that would be innovation hubs and would support each other to build rural economy. As you can see, we think rural India would do so by having more jobs, cultural preservation, healthcare, education, community and an overall better quality of life.

We began researching on future of rural India in different sectors and then look into how that would impact mobility. We envision that rural India has the opportunity to develop itself in a sustainable way, keeping its tradition alive instead of copying the urban approach.
Rural India would consist of self-sufficient villages that would be innovation hubs and would support each other to build rural economy. As you can see, we think rural India would do so by having more jobs, cultural preservation, healthcare, education, community and an overall better quality of life.

C. Future of People and their Needs

Rural India has seen a lot of its population migrate to urban areas due to lack of opportunities for education, employment, overall quality of life etc. So it is essential that in the future, living in villages is an attractive proposition even more than living in urban areas which would bring them back to villages.

Rural India has seen a lot of its population migrate to urban areas due to lack of opportunities for education, employment, overall quality of life etc. So it is essential that in the future, living in villages is an attractive proposition even more than living in urban areas which would bring them back to villages.

Reverse migration would happen when people are content with living in villages. Improved quality of life would be brought in with ample job opportunities ,provision of infrastructure, cleanliness, improved air quality, healthcare, education and connectivities.
Having spoken to a few people, we understood the core values that drive people to value their culture and roots to migrate back to villages.

Reverse migration would happen when people are content with living in villages. Improved quality of life would be brought in with ample job opportunities ,provision of infrastructure, cleanliness, improved air quality, healthcare, education and connectivities.
Having spoken to a few people, we understood the core values that drive people to value their culture and roots to migrate back to villages.

Insights - Future of Rural Indian Mobility

Ideation - Sharing and Ownership Models

People in Indian rural areas value community sharing and we looked into what non-monetary trust based sharing models could look like. A few factors that would influence sharing are:

1. Pride of Ownership
Indians take pride in owning a vehicle. By facilitating part ownership models, it gives people the pride of owning vehicles that may be outside the price segment they can afford.

2. Flexibility in Usage
Based on their occupation and mobility needs, sharing models could be flexible to ensure maximum utilization of the vehicle to suit needs of multiple owners.

3. Time Sharing
Owners may need the vehicle on specific days of the week/periods of time. Sharing models should facilitate agreements based on time sharing.

People in Indian rural areas value community sharing and we looked into what non-monetary trust based sharing models could look like. A few factors that would influence sharing are:

1. Pride of Ownership
Indians take pride in owning a vehicle. By facilitating part ownership models, it gives people the pride of owning vehicles that may be outside the price segment they can afford.

2. Flexibility in Usage
Based on their occupation and mobility needs, sharing models could be flexible to ensure maximum utilization of the vehicle to suit needs of multiple owners.

3. Time Sharing
Owners may need the vehicle on specific days of the week/periods of time. Sharing models should facilitate agreements based on time sharing.

DIRECTION
A .Project Vision

The vision of our project is to design a car ecosystem that celebrates the spirit of Indian innovation and rich culture. We believe that cars designed for rural India would be affordable and functional, promote circularity and that car sharing would be based on mutual trust and give people the pride of owning a car.

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The vision of our project is to design a car ecosystem that celebrates the spirit of Indian innovation and rich culture. We believe that cars designed for rural India would be affordable and functional, promote circularity and that car sharing would be based on mutual trust and give people the pride of owning a car.

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B. Inspiration - 'Jugaad'

Currently in India, people achieve this through a phenomenon called Jugaad, which is frugal innovation born out of necessity.
As we can see here, these are makeshift vehicles which are homemade vehicles made by local mechanics to transport people and goods from one place to another in rural areas.
This is an important characteristic we want to highlight because the future of rural India is to encourage and support this innovation.

Currently in India, people achieve this through a phenomenon called Jugaad, which is frugal innovation born out of necessity.
As we can see here, these are makeshift vehicles which are homemade vehicles made by local mechanics to transport people and goods from one place to another in rural areas.
This is an important characteristic we want to highlight because the future of rural India is to encourage and support this innovation.

C. Brand Inspiration - Ather

The brand we chose to model our concept on is Ather Energy, India’s first intelligent electric scooter startup.
It is innovative, disruptive and focuses on sustainability. They have done a lot of work around creating engaging mobility experiences for India.
We predict that in the future they would also begin making small cars and ecosystems/services around your life which support the new ways of living in India

CONCEPT
A. Value Proposition

Explanation

Explanation

This ecosystem would have 2 objectives - creating a circular economy through our program Remix and supporting Jugaad through our program Open Ather.

Remix program
The car would support modularization where instead of replacing the car, the old module would be replaced by a new one or upgraded as needed. This would bring down the cost, help users to increase the longevity of the car.

Open Ather program
This would be supported by the Open Ather program which is basically physical support centres in rural areas since access to repair and maintenance is a hassle. The Open Ather program would support car customisation as per livelihood and lifestyle requirements, provide users with knowledge and instructions to build from what is created, give the opportunity to innovate, support to repair modules by self or with with assistance and finally support continuous OS upgradation that would boost performance.

This ecosystem would have 2 objectives - creating a circular economy through our program Remix and supporting Jugaad through our program Open Ather.

Remix program
The car would support modularization where instead of replacing the car, the old module would be replaced by a new one or upgraded as needed. This would bring down the cost, help users to increase the longevity of the car.

Open Ather program
This would be supported by the Open Ather program which is basically physical support centres in rural areas since access to repair and maintenance is a hassle. The Open Ather program would support car customisation as per livelihood and lifestyle requirements, provide users with knowledge and instructions to build from what is created, give the opportunity to innovate, support to repair modules by self or with with assistance and finally support continuous OS upgradation that would boost performance.

B. Car Ownership Journey Experience

B. Car Ownership Journey Experience

A glimpse at different stages of a car owning journey and how our concept addresses common problems at each stage.

C. Storyboards

C. Storyboards

A look into possible experiences of users and application of our concept.

IN SUMMARY

Let's look at how things will happen now vs in the future..
Now, when a car needs repair, it is taken to the service centres which are very far away from the village, undergo a long repairing process and finally once the parts deteriorate, the car needs to be given away.
In our proposed ecosystem, for the same concern, the car is taken to our Open Ather unit, the part is replaced/repaired and finally we have car which is repaired and functions well with improved longevity.
.

Let's look at how things will happen now vs in the future..
Now, when a car needs repair, it is taken to the service centres which are very far away from the village, undergo a long repairing process and finally once the parts deteriorate, the car needs to be given away.
In our proposed ecosystem, for the same concern, the car is taken to our Open Ather unit, the part is replaced/repaired and finally we have car which is repaired and functions well with improved longevity.
.

FEEDBACK

Guy Colborne, Tutor - Intelligent Mobility, RCA

ROJGAR (livelihood) system and service of the circular economy . Modular vehicle system: mix of exchangeable/sharable modules, Very good vision here.
Open Ather : curated build and adaptation. Investigate a bit more how this goes beyond a Jugaad and create a positive impact.

You can develop the module ideas a bit more to show what these do.

Really good presentation with a strong context and clear vision.

Design Strategy Lead,
Ather Energy

Modularization is a great concept, worth building on.

Look into integrating solar panels.

Sharing and ownership models based around trust looks good, can be explored further.

Explore decentralisation of services, MaaS (Mobility as a Service) models.

Explore more into how incentivization to enable reverse migration can happen.

Ather may look into transition into four wheeler segment but it is way into the future, it is a huge investment and need to build capability and investment.

LEARNINGS

This was our first project exploring into the mobility space and we plan to continue building on the feedback we received.

Working with the Intelligent Mobility faculty and students was an incredible learning experience for us and we would like to thank our tutor, Guy Colborne for his constant guidance and motivation throughout the project.

This was our first project exploring into the mobility space and we plan to continue building on the feedback we received.

Working with the Intelligent Mobility faculty and students was an incredible learning experience for us and we would like to thank our tutor, Guy Colborne for his constant guidance and motivation throughout the project.

© Yashasri Sadagopan 2023