There is a joke running around the internet about what computers would be like if they were made by GM and what cars would be if Microsoft built them. Joke or not, the fact is both machines are getting closer every day. Now it is possible to access the internet in the dashboard of an automobile. Cars still keep an advantage: computers do not transport anyone around. But what would happen if cars were built in the “open source” way, as computer programs? Well, this is what EDAG aims to find out with Light Car - Open Source.

This amazing concept car is built with new materials. Its structure is made of ASA.TEC fibre, a basalt fibre that costs and weighs less than aluminum and carbon fibre, while is also fully recyclable and holds almost the same strength properties. The body is mostly made of glass and Makrolon, a sort of plastic that is at the same time resistant and transparent.

This transparent body allows EDAG to showcase another technology: (O)LED, or organic light-emitting diodes. They are well over this transparent body and help the car have headlights and taillights that are fully configurable. In other words, if you choose to have your headlights in the middle of the hood, that’s fine. Traditional settings are also acceptable.

In the back, this freedom in defining patterns also improves safety, once the entire back of the car can become an information panel on what is happening inside the vehicle. If the driver jumps up the pedal brake, the entire back door can light up to warn the drivers that are behind to take care and lower their speed.

These are not the only technological highlights of Light Car. It is also an electric vehicle powered by lithium-ion batteries that give it a 150-km range. There is plenty of room inside the car due to its generous 2.90 m wheelbase. And all that in a body that is only 4 m long and 1.70 m wide.

This fantastic approach was only possible because of the electric engines of the car. There are four, one in each wheel, and they work like the ones that equip Venturi Volage, or else, they steer, brake, power and make sure tyres are always in touch with the tarmac. That saves a lot of space. And money. Inside the car, the dashboard can also be set up as the driver wishes. All gauges can be adjusted in position, style and size.

The open source about Light Car is the fact that these technologies will be available to any carmaker that wants to use them. EDAG, as an engineering company, will not produce the Light Car - Open Source. Anyway, one thing is for sure: cars will remain as the kings of transportation, unless computers start teleporting people in the near future. Vehicles, at least, would still be more amusing.

EDAG Light Car - Open Source