The Los Angeles Auto Show will feature nine special concept cars as part of the "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges" design challenge, said a show press release.
For the show's 10th design challenge, auto design studios worldwide submitted concepts that were inspired by nature and addressed such transportation issues as congestion, pollution, safety and sustainability, said the press release.
The nine concepts came from design studios for BMW, Changfeng, JAC Motors, Mazda, Qoros, SAIC Motor, Subaru and Toyota.
As carmakers learn more each year, the annual design challenge "pushes automotive designers to explore new instruments and knowledge like never before," said the press release.
Besides the competing studios, three other design studios will be showcased in the challenge's design gallery: Hyundai Design and Research Center, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center California and Nissan Design America.
The concepts will be judged on factors that include "creative adaptation of nature's laws," comfort, convenience, aesthetics and sustainability. A winner will be selected by the challenge's diverse panel of judges on Nov. 21.
BMW Group DesignworksUSA will have two entries in the show. For the "L.A. Subways" concept, BMW designers were inspired to explore forgotten waterways as a travel alternative. With the studio's "Sustainable Efficient Exploratory Device" design, the concept took its inspiration from the maple seed, using a multifunctional rotating tail and energy, wind and gravity to move.
The show's designs range from the "Silk Road System" from Qoros Auto in China, which has a sustainable mobility system inspired by the silk worm, to Mazda's "AUTO ADAPT," a concept that was influenced by insects and can adapt from being fully autonomous to a manual machine.
The competition concepts will be featured in the show's design gallery during the press days on Nov. 19-21 and the run of the public show Nov. 22 to Dec. 1.
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