Smart 341 Parkour Concept

While most of the background stories of the projects presented at this year LA Design Challenge have been set in dystopian, post-apocalyptic worlds, Smart designers from the German Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design studio have come up with a funny and adventurous 3D animation movie.

The protagonist of the story is Annie, a young reporter who tries to find her first scoop by solving the mystery of the missing “Smart Granny Robots” (SGR).

This creates a connection with the past year project, as the SGRs are the knitting robots created for the background story of the Smart 454 WWT that won the 2010 edition of the contest together with Cadillac Aera.

The compact vehicle can operate in three different ways: it has a conventional drive mode, a fly mode and a climb mode, which allows it to be parked everywhere and justifies the reference to “Parkour”.

Several features such as the 360-degrees greenhouse and the climbing mode enable Annie to take pictures from the every location.

The wheels are retractable and contain impulse pads and vacuum cups. The hexagon skin around the wheelhouse is adjustable to release the wheels.

Project details

• Movie title: “Annie get the Grannies!”
• Design Team: Sylvain Wehnert, Emiel Burki, Phillipp Haban

Background story

In a world of continuous change, in Cantpark City, reporter Annie Angle is beginning a new chapter in her life.

Cantpark City is famous for its friendly people, the beautiful weather, but notoriously known for a lack of parking spaces. On an early Sunday morning, an article in a newspaper catches Annie’s eyes… “Smart Granny Robots missing!!!”

Annie sets off on a journey to solve the mystery of the missing Grannies and to earn her first, potentially career-making, front page news article.

Her Smart 341 Parkour vehicle plays a key role in this private investigation, providing both effective transportation and favourable sleuthing capabilities.

Follow Annie’s investigative search in Smart’s “Annie get the Grannies!” this November.