Gallery: Auto Industry's Design Maestros Envision the Cop Cars of 2025
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__SHARC by Subaru Research and Development__ While Honda and GM phoned in this year's submissions, Subaru didn't just go big, it went massive. Not only did it develop a vehicle with seriously sci-fi capabilities, they matched it with an entirely new Hawaiian road system dubbed the "inter-island Paradise Highway." That's pretty self-explanatory. What isn't self-evident is the SHARC, or the Subaru Highway Automated Response Concept. Donning a massive dorsal fin and two insectile antennas for headlights, the SHARC combines high-speed, road-going pursuit machine, air patrol and water rescue into one completely ridiculous package. If this would've been the main character in Waterworld, it would've won an Oscar.
Photo: Alexander Khoklov0211-la-design-challenge-2012
A beefed-up suspension joins dozens of LED lights to dominate its environment, whether on-road or off. And the faux spare wheel bulge on the rear hatch extends outward to reveal a medical kit, tactical equipment and anything else an officer-on-the-go would need. And the Ener-G-Force is completely emissions free thanks to a (theoretical) hydrogen-based propulsion system powered by a large tank of purified water mounted on the roof, further proving hydrogen is the fuel of the future (and always will be).
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__Ener-G-Force by Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center California__ You undoubtedly remember the [life-sized version of the Ener-G-Force](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/autopia/2012/11/mercedes-ener-g-force/) for the L.A. Auto Show. That was the civilian version of this law enforcement-focused version of the next G-Wagon. Like the version dominating the Mercedes show stand, this police variant is a burly truck developed to overcome – or more accurately, crush – anything in its way.
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Unlike nearly all the other concepts shown, the Traffic Crawler is an actual manned vehicle, with a hydrogen fuel cell powering all three wheels. But despite getting power from that oft-promised and perpetually delayed hydrogen fuel cell, the Honda design team managed to equip the Traffic Crawler with a trio of "exhaust" pipes protruding from underneath the body work in a subtle nod to Honda's motorcycle heritage.
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__“CHiPs” 2025 Traffic Crawler by Honda R&D Company Advanced Design Studio, Tokyo__ Honda Japan wasn't going to let its California design studio have all the fun, and its submission is more traditional, yet oh-so-very-Japanese. If [Katsuhiro Otomo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(film)) got ahold of the Morgan Three-Wheeler and transformed it into a Akira-pursuing reverse-trike, the Traffic Crawler would be it.
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Honda's U.S.-based design studio actually has a two-part approach to dealing with "the harsh environment of California highways." So in addition to the four-wheeled control vehicle, a separate, two-wheeled unmanned motorcycle – or Moto-Drone in Honda parlance – can blast up the shoulder of the freeway while Ponch mans the controls safely inside his proto-Element
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__CHP Drone Squad by Honda R&D Americas Advanced Design Studio, California__ In Honda's vision of the future, Judge Dredd is apparently airdropped onto the scene of some horrific crash on "The 5" to exact his patented blend of judge, jury and executioner on the poor sap that caused this multi-car pileup. There's no mention of a helicopter in Honda's Drone Squad materials, but considering its success with jets, let's assume they got the years mixed up and were designing for 2045.
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The two other concepts – a reverse trike and a four-wheeled paddy wagon are entirely forgettable, but the CHiPs-esque biker of the future would look perfectly in place in the Blade Runner Redux we all know (and dread) is coming. Again, with no details supplied, all we can assume is that the pilot is ensconced in some kind of oxygenated suit that melds into the body work – God help him if he catches a crosswind or worse, some laser-guide crossfire.
Photo: Chris Kohler/WIRED0904-la-design-challenge-2012
__Volt Squad by General Motors Advanced Design California__ The General wants us to believe that the Volt brand is alive and well in 2025. Either that, or they weren't able to come up with a compelling – and marketeer-approved name – for its fleet of futurist patrol units. We're going with the latter. Regardless, what GM's design studio lacked in naming acumen they made up for in volume and imagination, with a trio of pursuit concepts with nary a detail (or name) to be found in their four sentence submission. What they did provide were three words: observe, pursue and engage. And if we're the guy in the mid-70s Camaro being chased through the L.A. basin by a pair of jet-powered, dual-copters, the period-specific brown interior would have a matching stain.
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Inside, our robocop is awash in computers and displays, including an augmented reality windshield that scans vehicles ahead for their license plates, determining who's driving, how fast and if they're wanted by Johnny Law. And in a nod to Highway Patrol's [favorite method of disabling vehicles](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g4CIYR7lIk) during high-speed chases – [the PIT maneuver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver) – the E-Patrol's front wheels arches can articulate outward, nudging the speeder's rear quarter panel to knock them out of commission. There's never been a more elegantly high-tech way of putting the baddies into a median barrier at 90 mph.
Image: Wikipedia1102-la-design-challenge-2012
__E-Patrol by BMW Group DesignworksUSA__ One part cop car, two parts drone. It's as if BMW's Southern California design studio channeled the unholy lovechild of William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick to create the E-Patrol Human-Drone Pursuit Vehicle. And that's not a bad thing... It looks like the mashup of two Tron Lightcycles stitched together with an AMOLED/carbon fiber roof, but those two massive rear wheel arches are actually single-wheeled drones that are magnetically attached to the body. At the flick of a switch, they shoot off the sides, with the driver or an Xbox-loving patrol officer at home base controlling the mono-wheeled UAV as it slices through traffic in hot pursuit. But that's only half the fun. A Flying Pursuit Unit (or FPU – let's just call it a drone), deploys from the nose of the E-Patrol, equipped with a pair of video cameras, a 3D terrain scanner and radar which autonomously flies over traffic to scout out what's causing yet another massive backup on the 405.
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Forget black and white Crown Vics and battle-scarred Chargers. The cop cars of tomorrow will shoot drones, transform from four-wheelers into quadrocopters and fly high above the dystopian hellscape formerly known as the LA Basin. It's a brave new world desperately in need of new tools for the boys in blue, and that's exactly what six major automotive design studios brought to this year's [LA Design Challenge](http://www.laautoshow.com/DesignChallenge?tab=1). For nine years running, the Los Angeles Auto Show has hosted a design competition where the auto industry's best and brightest envision the future of mobility. In years past, entrants were asked to create the next revolution in urban transport, stunt vehicles and even race cars. This year, the challenge was focused on the cop cars of 2025. Here are this year's sci-fi submissions, a not-so-subtle blend of inspiration and insanity, with one winner crowned by a panel of automotive experts, law enforcement officers and daft futurists capable of embracing each automaker's vision while attempting to maintain some measure of reality. Once you see the contestants, you'll understand why. *Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired* [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/about/#faq13)
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To begin with, the body is made up of an inflatable Kevlar-composite fabric that's both lightweight and bullet proof (sure, we'll play along). The wheels incorporate individual 96-hp brushless electric motors and alternating red and blue emergency lights, while the tires have two compounds – a high-speed tread surface on the outer edge and a grippy, rugged tread on the inside. Partnered with the electromechanical flexible suspension arms that bend and flex based on the amount an electrical current shot through the ionic polymer metal composite, they can bend in to provide optimal grip or pivot upwards to make the SHARC into a quadrocopter designed to hover over traffic or rescue a swimmer from the a real shark. As a manned vehicle, the SHARC links up with a pair of augmented reality 3D goggles worn by the officer, providing vehicle speeds, pedestrian traffic, license identification and a bevy of other information. And as you'd expect, all this is connected to the cloud, with the "ARM GEAR control and monitoring device" keeping real-time tabs on road conditions, weather events, broken-down vehicles and objects in the roadway. The whole concept is as detailed as it is ambitious, which is why it won over the judges to take home this year's prize.
