
Dan is directing CCS multi-disciplinary faculty/student team – of transportation, interaction + urban designers. The Korean smart mobility design competition is funded by the Seoul Design Foundation

Dan delivers 1-hour keynote presentation on the future of mobility to SUR/FIN automotive-supplier industry conference in Las Vegas • June 2016

Dan loved receiving this picture from UCLA architecture students who were inspired by his (1-hour skype pro bono) lecture + began exploring (3D printing) their new *mobitopia* - May 2016

Too bad public transit agencies are not seeking innovators of new public transit models. But that doesn’t keep Richard Schultz here in Austin (may 2016) from pushing forward www.cmt4austin.org

Talk about OSX + android operating sys. What if our roads were an os? Our streets took shape b4 car, + shaped by horse + cart. Odd to think future autonomous vehicles fit to 3,000 yr/old standard

Dan is supporting Automotive Design & Production mag + autobeat’s dev of their automobility conference (oct 2016). Dan is supplying program content, design elements, and speaker securement

Dan supports yangfeng design executives with information on the latest developments in the electric and autonomous car fields. He helps them see over the horizon - when called upon (2016)

Dan was fortunate to be in southern California when the LA metro expo line opened between santa monica and downtown la. Lots of excitement! Dan was interviewed about the opening on kcrw (may 17, 2016)

Dan visited with bikecar inventor + prolific artist pippa garner in long beach (may 2016) – garner has been designing safer bicycles after being hit by a car. dan gets inspired for future local ev

Dan spent 2-weeks in Austin (may 2016) evaluating the city as a potential launch site for his "1 car challenge" - If mobility solutions are "medicine" then this is one city that is mobility sick

In boulder dan came across the elf 3-wheel pedal-electric enclosed trike. Just as airplanes need airports, light e-vehicles can be too big on the bike path and too slow in the car lane (may 2016)

dan was in Rancho Mission Viejo to speak on the future of that planned 14,000 home community in 2040. Along with mobility + urban design leaders Todd litman and ellen dunham-jones (may 2016)

Tesla is a great car but micromobility is a much bigger idea. We know 2-tiers (car=70mph + plane=500mph) Adding 3rd light + low-speed modes (LLM) we can move far better + create a fantastic new world

Dan enjoys sitting in new tesla model x. having supported doug field at segway, who is now vice-president of engineering for tesla. Dan is impressed what his associate has been able to achieve

dan likes tesla, but it's way too big for many trips. In the coming world of mobility-as-a-service (Maas) the user is not tied to one vehicle for all trips (dan here in Austin april 2016)

city outreach = only bike / bus discussion. Dan feels more comprehensive framework is needed and created sam – seeking to engage citizens in bottom-up urban mobility solutions

Dan was engaged by Nichols partnership to provide a future vision for intra-community mobility design opportunities at their high-end resort Stanly Ranch in Napa - under development

Reinventing transportation involves companies, governments, and consumers. Most professionals in the mobility field have not been trained for the current environment of paradigm change. Lots to do!

Dan moved to Detroit (summer 2015) to teach mobility design at ccs. While some want to improve public transit in the city in traditional ways, dan wants to “leapfrog” + create far better system

Dan has been a mentor for some of the most talented designers, introducing them early to the smart mobility future. Jose is an amazing talent with training in architecture, car design, and has an mba

A favorite of dan’s at the 2016 Detroit auto show is the hyper-efficient i-road personal vehicle for in town travel. The automaker behind this has been unfortunately reluctant to produce it

Dan enjoyed seeing taro ueda (vice-president design Nissan usa) at the auto show. The two were the only car designers at frogdesign in 1988. Dan has also supported Nissan future lab recently

Dan serves as a broker at times – connecting companies to the best design talent. (Great designers often support dan’s vision). Dan linked wonder workshop to an amazing designer of toy robot (jt)

la traffic shows us electric cars won’t solve the bigger problem. Given what new (3-tier) transportation network solutions can offer, it’s sad the average consumer has to pay $25/day for their car

Dan is a Super mentor to splt - start-up carpool app (since 2015). He delivers “car-lite” mojo to the new company that launched in Detroit - car manufacturing mecca. Here dan supports splt outreach

autonomous cars are going to greatly change car design. Dan enjoys teaching students about this future. Here a ccs student of dan’s explores a new vehicle form for uber – for a nasf sponsored project

Bi-modal mobility is a big idea (even with unrealistic small vehicle shown). If more like known 1-seat scooter-car, user can buzz around their town then take bus “ferry” over to another 60 miles away

Bi-modal concept by dan’s student for Michelin-sponsored megaregion mobility project. Bikes on a bus make the bus into a “ferry”. Students focused on comprehensive solutions like bi-modal

Student proposal for frictionless “home-pod-to-anywhere” system (Michelin project). Would Increase convenience of cars while massively reducing energy + land-use need for mobility globally - Fall 2015

the role of the car design school has been to create amazing talent for automakers. Do they now have what it takes to get out in front + lead a larger set of companies into the big mobility future?

Dan assigns his class an aerial group mobility vehicle design project, then takes his class on Detroit people mover, to see the good and (many) bads (winter 2016)

urban + vehicle designers need to be together. In april dan introduced legendary la architect + ucla professor craig hodgetts to ccs leaders. While not paid to develop these networks, they help all

Dan becomes adjunct professor for trans. design (summer 2015). Recruited by chair paul Snyder. Dan loves the people of ccs and teaching just 5 blocks from where henry ford invented his model t

Slide from (may 2016) dan presentation. Creating new carfree communities can allow for local packages to be delivered to one’s home underground in just moments – offering massive energy savings

Mobility design is about the future of living. by designing new frictionless ez-move cities, people can enjoy living more “multi-locational”. Moving one’s stuff today is major pain point (April 2016)

A sketch paper model by glen small of experimental carfree community concept. Strips show pads for dwellings, with back of unit Connecting residents to room-to-room smart movement system (2014)

Sketch for 1x1 mile “sundial” experimental car-free community by dan + architect glen small. Green areas connect all to paths, bikeways + gardens. While in back, room-to-room micro-train moves others

Pads for dwellings shown w/o roof. All units connect to green space in front, and enjoy the automated horizontal movement system in dwelling’s rear (for goods and people that need motorized movement)

Capillary communities can be realized in many ways – ADAM is a very advanced version. Dan has focused on creating a far better type of new community (or city) since 2013

Dan has called his new community “centerwalk”, since new mobility technology now allows people to use most of the road space for walking, biking, and gardens – not just a tiny strip on the side

GM + Segway en-v system was extremely energy / land-use efficient design. Exciting to see vehicle platoon, but concept lacks traction. A new small city may be needed to show how this system can work?

Dan’s focus on new cities has helped him find amazing designers. This Canadian completely rethinks both the mobility interface and the ability to add a room (capacity) to one’s place on-demand

Kiva systems inventor raffaello d’andrea told dan his new community mobility system design is 100% viable, and it will be far more robust and much lower cost than lidar-based self driving cars (2014)

Dan makes an effort to keep-up with cutting edge new architecture. He has lectured and supported professors at ucla, usc, art center, parsons new school, university of Minnesota, and others

Dan supported tony hsieh’s idea for a bold new multimobility company; project 100. The team was great, but changing automobile ownership in America is a very wicked problem

dan and design associate (jp) supported design research for chipotle for a new food truck. Attention was put on the need to lowering food for customers to see – the chipotle way. (2010)

dan experimented with a public transpo design podcast called wheelchange (2011-2012). He feels that engaging the public in co-designing bold new mobility ideas, is the best way to see real traction

dan created the new, and easier to remember “v-ride” brand name for vpsi (2012), the largest vanpool service in the united states.

Dan has worked with san diego’s metropolitan planning organization (SANDAG) to reduce automobile dependency and has presented to all county mayors on benefits of local vehicles + mobility hubs (2014)

Dan has supported south bay cities develop electric vehicle infrastructure + promote local vehicles. la county has trouble - 50% of homes are apartments where charging is hard to install (2012-2014)

For the 3 years dan was based in la – he loved riding in the ciclavia events that are working to change our mobility culture into becoming more diverse and far healthier (2013)

dan was early supporter of producer in creating upcoming movie (from 2009), contributing ideas and intro to dan’s network. These pro bono efforts are important; “a high tide floats all boats”

Neighborhood electric train (sketch) concept. Top view here. A (limited time) collaboration with dan + Jussi timonen. The effort explores fun and contemporary new downtown mobility ideas (2014)

Neighborhood electric train (sketch) concept. Original ideas focused on downtown santa monica California. There are many options to how this concept could be executed (2014)

Dan has supported walter siembab, technical director of south bay cities council of government on his bold concept of neighborhood centers + re-patterning of American suburbs (2012-2014)

dan has high regards for dan sperling for pursuing cross-disciplinary teams + hiring dan to become the first car designer to work for the university of california’s transportation institutes

a promise of the Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) future is offering “mission-specific” vehicles to consumers and free people from generic bland cars. Here is a cool mission-specific truck concept by jeep

Dan created the “car-hopper” station concept (2009), where small local-use cars are exchanged for “far” cars (or a shared mobility service) to travel further across the region (Image Dan + b. Bradley)

dan speaks at art center college of design’s sustainable mobility conference on September 23, 2010 (This event was held roughly 5 years before major automakers began to take this future seriously)

dan creates go-point concept. A network of mobility hubs for users to switch from regional vehicles (cars + transit) and “local” ones (just as we switch from regional + global ones at airports)

Go-point network: While home-to-destination uber rides are expensive, take e-bike to hub, then ride van with others to hub near destination. Much cheaper than uber, and faster than public transit

Dan took go-point movie to la metro (2007) – served as a catalyst for ladot to secure $10m mobility hub grant and build attention to light, low-speed modes (LLM) in county

Boulder county (co) asked dan for input on how to solve last mile bicycle storage challenges. Should it be bike sharing they asked? Dan said no, make it more like a “bike barn”. They built it (2009)

Go-point pop-up station study (2013). Placement on edge of major grocery store parking lot. Not shown: local ev charging + storage area (image: dan + jt)

Dan meets with (aecom) – community designers of major 15k unit new community. dan is Always shocked car companies can’t see opportunity to design custom mobility system for big new town

Dan consults with rancho mission Viejo (RMV) on nev plan (2007). Dan began working with developers at Disney celebration (1992). Dan’s nev at rmv is rated #1 sustainability measure by eco-firm

dan researches “capillary” car-free community in southern CA with associate (ford designer) jose paris. The early community is great for kids + people, lacking car traffic, driveways + garages (2009)

Swift tram, an Early-stage Suspended monorail company in boulder co. design reduces expensive and unattractive Disney-type monorail infrastructure. Dan (+ jose paris) propose initial look

Go+rise car system. (Dan +JP Exploration). Concept imagines a low-cost second level to American parking lots, where micro-cars can lift themselves to next level up. (2010)

Ucla citylab : “Dan presented a way to think about the fusion of automobility with the office building itself that would allow for a transformed conception of home, mobility, and work” (2014)

mit introduced dan to the idea of the capillary community – where smaller vehicles are used in the city core. This image is of Florence Italy – the yellow circles at the edge are for parking autos

Dan's “top-40” concept. A local car, faster than his Nev, able to go 40 mph, but only cost $5,000 new. (unconventional door adds safety while reducing cost for those able to step-in)

A sketch of a new guest mobility system for Disney world. dan's idea was for an autonomous “park bench” that came to your hotel and then connected to a “ferry” and to all areas of the park (2009)

Dan sturges was the first car designer on the united states transportation research board – committee on innovative public transport and technologies (AP020) – and served for 10 years

Dan and his near car were in bruce mau’s book “massive change”. Dan aims to create far less costly mobility, end carbon emission, and solve traffic congestion (image: massive change)

dan was honored to present a multimobility future vision for the 20th anniversary issue of automobile magazine. a future dashboard of shared mobility was created (developed by dan + j. paris 2007)

Intrago concept for (shared local vehicle) mobile kiosk. If la had this for their new shared bikes, stations could be repositioned near beach on weekends to generate additional revenue (2007)

intrago raised $2M in seed funding from a great group of investors (2006-08). In sept 08 the company agreed to $5M round from silicon valley – 3 days later the global economy crashed – killing company

intrago created a mobile demonstrator – to showcase an early shared Segway system to potential site customers. No advanced shared Segway systems existed then (2007) nor do today

Rendering of intrago shared e-bike station. Electric bikes add considerable complexity to bikeshare. Intrago was formed before paris had their velib (pedal) bikeshare system = very early.

Dan was reluctant to forming intrago, but saw funding for sensible local-use vehicles being reduced in Washington. There were engineering challenges, that are only now being solved (2007)

Early engineering functional mock-up (2007). Sustainable ee engineer Rick morgal, dan’s engineering partner on (gem) was intrago’s cto

Intrago identity was designed (pro bono) by dan associate mark crumpacker – today chief marketing officer for chipotle (2007)

Intrago prototype shared e-bike out for a ride in boulder co in 2009. intrago was years before the competition but didn’t survive the 2008 global market crash

In 2009 dan proposed the name “spark” to associate peter kuchnicki for his new design award. Kuchnicki choose it, and has been building his expanding design competition globally ever since

Dan joined calstart (2004) and retooled their early shared mobility program to focus on the first + last mile problem. Dan’s new “first mile” program was funded by Federal transit administration

Dan’s favorite day was rolling about the giant ford campus for the company’s 100 year anniversary on the new Segway – which got more attention than the cars. It was dan’s 40th birthday

Dan’s diagram of (2-metropolitan-tier) new urban mobility order. He supported Daimler’s winning bid for creating new community mobility system at la’s major new development playa vista (2003)

Paul Herzan's effort to create a new taxi for NYC becomes a public design challenge. Citystreets founder Harris Silver proposes compelling new taxi ideas which Dan helps with

Paul herzan: “when trying to figure out how to catalyze development of the next taxi for nyc early on I spoke to dan sturges because his passion to rethink transportation norms inspired me”

2004 - Frustrated with the lack of progress in mobility, dan created the “going” conference and brought top leaders together to discuss how to get more traction. Dan designed and self-funded event

Not a car owner – boulder co newspaper captures dan operating his 600 mpg (equivalent) personal vehicle around the time of his “going” conference

yMD – an unrealized concept to involve young people in re-imagining their city’s mobility system. Local-use vehicles belong in the future and much easier to 3d print than freeway cars

Dan developed the “kids can drive” tv test in 2001. The project gained significant interest from both kids and parents. The test video is online and was shot in ann arbor mi

Target corporation gave university of Minnesota design institute $1 million for a week-long high school design camp. Amazing educators were brought together. Here is the poster (year 2000)

Dan headed-up the “moving” team. Gem supplied 5 nev vehicles for the week program. It was an amazing experience – and the students thrived!

The university of Minnesota’s target design camp was covered in both local media as well as the new York times (year 2000)

In 2003, well before kickstarter made the scene, dan talks with design students at art center about how one can start a company to produce / realize their idea. There was heavy interest

Dan introduces bill dieter, an amazing designer, and creator of this “seg-shield” weather solution to Segway, inc. (2004)

dan supported segway for 1 year. His creative proposal to “go narrow + deep” and focus on one us city deployment was not embraced by new incoming ceo. Dan loved Flying shotgun in dean’s jet!

1997 - in davis, dan proposed forming a “new mobility” program, which dan sperling and susan shaheen backed. This graphic was of their smart multimobility vision – 10 years before uber launched

the first new mobility workshop in north America brought a highly diverse group of leaders together for the first time. Mary Nichols, head of California air resources board provided funding

while this converted gem may be an eco-disaster, it’s thrilling for dan to see his original creation altered and transformed! How boring the world would be if everything is all the same (web image)

putin around! Russian president vladamir putin and 43rd us president George bush go for a ride in dan’s nev at one of the g8 summits

while ford copied dan’s nev idea (think), the largest number of companies copying the design were in china. They have served as a foundation for the growing low-speed electric vehicle market there

When dan and (5 yr old) stepson were at family cottage (1990) in northern michigan drawing little gem vehicles, neither of them could have possibly imagined the design becoming showcased at g8 summit

Dan’s gem cars – covered in the new York times

Talking with happy students about cars and the environment in seattle Washington – 2003.

Gem engages dan and others to demonstrate their nev at a suburban community in san diego.

It’s odd when a car designer speaks a conference called “collision”. But it was here in 2000 where dan came to know the godfather of converged media, and first on stage – drew takahashi

Dan returns to general motors (1993) to show design chief chuck Jordan and some designers his early folding vehicle. (There was no business purpose to this meeting – love the people you work with)

dan enjoyed seeing his wires+tires program content translated into Japanese for issue of axis magazine (1999)

Dan developed a conference idea at frogdesign and convinced ted conference founder Richard wurman to co-produce it. (Unfortunately leadership at frog changed and killed event)

Wired magazine sent dan and one of their journalists around the united states for a week to see where dan’s vehicle were in use. The resulting 10-page story is an interesting read

original (gem) was tooled for only $900K. dan found it odd to see ford trying to build a nev with substantial resources. To dan It felt like watching boeing trying to make an ultralight aircraft

it’s amazing to dan how their original (gem) design has been world leader of low-speed vehicles for 20 years and with copycats travelled over 100 million miles – saving over 50 million gallons of gas

Bombardier created a terrific NEV zone image in one of their brochures. (the large Canadian company developed an early nev too and made unsuccessful bid to buy dan’s company early on)

Dan was excited to design a nev, but thrilled to create a new category of motor vehicle in the us. His nev: sustainable, human-scale, and only using a 5hp motor to move people around their community

unfortunate to see automotive news promoting nev vehicles as unsafe. They’re highly visible, and statically stable - unlike vespa scooters. they had no issue with 160 mph Kawasaki motorcycles?

dan visits Daimler-owned gem in 2002. He walks into a warehouse with 6,000 of his vehicles being prepared to be transported to California to meet zero-emission regulations for the automaker

Trans2 is reborn as global electric motorcars (gem) – new owner then sells to daimlerchrysler for major profit - 2000

Trans2 bill of material. 600 parts. (a modern car has between 25,000 to 30,000 parts) - 1996

Trans2 board of directors meeting (1996). The company would not survive, but the vehicle would be re-introduced by new owners. total trans2 investment? $8M

Job 1. (or job 5!) the first trans2 vehicles are assembled in Missouri – along with many manufacturing challenges - 1995

Production trans2 nev in photo studio. The design would remain in production for 20 years and become the world’s leading low-speed vehicle

Design for the trans2 neighborhood electric vehicle factory. Manufacturing was contracted to a Honda supplier in Missouri - 1995

As dan’s idea nears production, a team of automotive professionals support the small start-up in a Detroit suburb. Dan’s stepfather, doug query becomes ceo

The trans2 neighborhood electric vehicle was tooled for production for $900,000. It represented what cad engineering could accomplish at the time

Heard at a (professional) trans2 focus group in Arizona: “which of the big three made this?” Big three? Trans2 had less than 15 employees at this time - 1995

A new vehicle magically emerges. Women in davis California enjoy their new experience piloting a eco community vehicle by trans2

Early prototype shown to Coronado california mayor by dan’s late key co-founder bill macadam

Automobile writes a positive 5-page article on the new vehicle venture in 1994; “Genghis dan builds a people’s car for china”

First trans2 Non-folding production intent prototype – being compared to a golf cart. (massive co-design effort made by erik blatter) 1994

Early sketch of non-folding model (art support: j. mack) 1993

High-quality Illustration of folding trans2 “near” vehicle (art by j. mack)

While mit gets all the attention for folding-cars, dan and partners created this fully-operation folding nev prototype 10 years before the academics in boston

dan’s egghouse at night was out of this world - 1991

dan designed his egghouse, exploring the potential for living in smaller spaces. Built of aluminum gondola parts, dan sought a high transparent sleeping space - 1991

dan’s excitedly test assembles his egghouse in flint michigan (1991) after the aluminum parts arrived from Switzerland.

Dan + partners create special video about NAD + trans2. dan travels to kobe japan in 1993 to play it at posh ted4 conference to great reception

While conferences rethinking mobility are now common, dan travels to nyc to speak at special moma symposium on the automobile - 1991

new ski gondolas design. dan supported cwa constructions (the world's gondola leader) with new designs for numerous stints (scale model 1990)

Dan forms “new American dream” with top graphic and environmental artists. Start-up leads to VC funding for vehicle project. J. wagman creates “footeye” character representing ignorance - 1990

New American dream was formed to produce environmental cd-rom game. Amazing illustrations by illustrator-partner jon wagman - 1990

wall street journal claims dan's vehicle project is stuck in first gear - 1990

first full-size model of "platform vehicle". the model folds upright for storage. lead fabrication by business partner dave boyd - torrance ca 1989

Primary design intent for dan; enclosed motor scooter for college town mobility. (rendering support by c. durfey, dan associate and original dodge viper designer)

Dan’s nev story started here – scale model of dan’s “china car” built by frogdesign elite model makers - 1988

dan's design for olympus camera - frogdesign 1987

comvick card call (eu pay phone) - final production design dan + s. peart - 1987

dan worked for frog in 2 stints: 1987-88 and 1998-2001. He will forever be grateful to owner hartmut esslinger + patricia roller for seeing his potential to contribute large value to the world

dan’s ideas for intermediate vehicles are published in automotive news – 1987. He worked for general motors design at the time. (a gm lawyer came to his studio to scold him for the article)

Two full-size renderings by dan at gm. A “dropbox” truck concept (box not shown) and a speedster concept - 1987 (still modern looking 29 years ago from when this site went live)

general motors design - painted clay scale model (chevy 200 project) - 1987

dan’s design for sports car graphic magazine (1984). Dan proposes a model he called Ferrari “enzo” – which Ferrari produced a production car with that name in 2002 (18 years later)

dan was born a car lover. He had hundreds of matchbox cars as a young kid. He began drawing / designing cars at age 14. But he loves people more than cars and seeks sensible mobility solutions today
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