Jan's blog

From November 1 till November 7, a delegation of our team (Arthur, Stijn and Jan) went to India to visit the design review in the Delhi College of Engineering. We gathered there with the teams of Delft, Milan and Delhi to determine the scenario and the context of the VDS car. Anna Jaffe, one of the founders of VDS, was also present. She told us a lot about the organisation of VDS.

During our stay we had a lot of meetings and we went into the centre of Delhi to observe the traffic. There we also tried all different kinds of public transport. That was definitely a special experience. We took an RTV (Rural Transport Vehicle), the subway, a bus, a rickshaw and an auto-rickshaw. We evaluated them all and gave our results to the team of Delft. They combined these with the results of a survey they took from the locals to determine the concept: a 4-person car according to the European Standard of Safety.
The car will have to be a little bit narrower for a better manoeuvrability in the Indian traffic. It will also be a kind of modular car, so it can be used for different purposes.
In the meantime, Milan also worked out a scenario. They thought of the idea of Car Sharing: one car will be used by multiple persons, so the total number of cars will be less.
To end our trip to India, we went to Agra. There we visited the Taj Mahal, one of the 7 world wonders, and the Agra Fortress. After this exhausting day, we returned to Belgium with a lot of new and useful information.

Thanks to this meeting in Delhi, a lot considering VDS became a lot clearer and we now have a general idea about the scenario and the context. All this will be further developed on the Critical Design Review next week here in Leuven. There will also be some general sketches provided by the team of TU Delft.

See you all at the CDR in Leuven!

Monday November 22, the Vehicle Frame team visited the TU Delft colleague team. They're responsible for the scenario and the styling of the VDS Vision. Objectives: getting to know each other and to discuss the future of this project.

We left Leuven at 7:00 am with 5 men (the Frame Team and Arthur) to Delft. After a smooth ride of 2 hours, we arrived at the Industrial Design department at the large campus of our neighbours. The first contact was very spontaneous. After this, we brought each other up to date about our current performances. This also brought us to some questions, which we've tried to solve together.

We came to the conclusion that we have to take initiative ourselves for obtaining a good communication. We realize we have to take a coordinating role upon us to help all the teams of VDS with the exchange of information and questions. If we do this, we will have to set up a good contact between the different parts of the car. The VDS GROUPT T Team will try to create a structural cooperation between the teams of the VDS Chassis Group and TU Delft will try to be central in the communication of the VDS Body Group.

As Group T and Delft aren't that far apart from each other, it is less complex to get in touch with each other in person, so it will be easier to discuss the evolution of the project in the near future.