The Stained Glass Driverless Sleeper Car (or mini Cathedral for short) All studio and outdoor photographs below by Sylvain Deleu

The glass car takes a sleeping passenger home.

Dominic Wilcox opens the car.

Dominic takes a nap ready for the journey ahead.

Dominic Wilcox sleeping in the stained glass driverless sleeper car.

The empty glass car traveling to collect it's passenger who has called it.

The illuminate shell.

The rear.

At Middlesex Univirsity Product design Department who assisted Dominic Wilcox with the car base and glass support structure.

Carrying the frame to the glass workshop

Dominic checking out the frame making.

The concept of the technology held within a chassis base allowing any shell to be built on top with chosen interior.

Dominic planning the glass cutting.

Dominic adding glass to the frame

Glass detail

Early sketch

The making of the glass assisted by Massimo Cappella.

After reading that Dominic was inspired by Durham Cathedral they invited him to show the car in the Cathedral grounds in August 2015

Stained Glass Driverless Sleeper Car of the Future

Dominic Wilcox has created his vision of the future of transport for the exhibition ‘Dezeen and Mini Frontiers‘ during the London Design Festival. The driverless glass car prototype has only a bed inside, where the passenger can sleep while the car takes them to their destination. The car combines the hand made process of glass work with modern and future technologies to create a proposal of how transport could be in the middle of the 21st century.

“I propose that in the year 2059 it will be statistically proven that it is safer to ride in a computer controlled ‘driverless’ vehicle than to ride in a human driven vehicle. In fact in 2058 there were no collisions on the Digital M1 motorway where only driverless vehicles are allowed.

This means that driverless vehicles will not require the typical safety equipment we see on current cars such as air bags and bumpers. We will simply require a living space on wheels. The technology of the motor and driverless, automated navigation system will be held within a standard, modular chassis, on to which any living space shell can be built. I am presenting one example of the type of vehicles possible and have designed a prototype for a driverless car made from stained glass. This vehicle is a single person ‘sleeper car’, the occupant can sleep on a bed while the car travels to the destination of choice.

The stained glass element also developed out of my interest in taking what I admire from objects of the past and merging it with technology of the future, to create a new vision. For example, I previously designed a pair of traditional brogue shoes with GPS embedded to guide the wearer home. In this case, I had previously visited Durham Cathedral and was struck by the wonderful stained glass windows there. I wanted to bring the visual experience I had in the cathedral into a new, contemporary, three dimensional form. The hand cut glass car uses the copper foil technique. This time intensive handmade shell is supported upon a computer designed and manufactured frame, bringing together bespoke craftsmanship with the technical precision of computer aided design.

I was greatly assisted in the making of the chassis base and wooden support frame for the glass by the team at Middlesex University product design department. I then moved the frame to a stained glass workshop called Lead and Light in Camden, London. Having never made anything in glass before I signed up to a 5 day workshop lead by glass artist Lynette Wrigley. Taking Lynette’s advice and guidance I started cutting each piece by hand then attaching them to the frame by soldering them into place over the course of six weeks. I had great assistance from recent graduate Massimo Cappella particularly on this long and difficult challenge.

In terms of other design elements there is a nod to the original mini launched in 1959 (the exhibition was supported by MINI the car manufacturer), using classic mini tyres and the boot handle that is now used as a handle to lift the hydraulic assisted glass shell in order for a person to get inside.

I also present taxirobot.co.uk, a website concept for the year 2059 where instead of people owning a driverless car, they can order a vehicle of their choice to pick them up when required, selecting what size: 2, 4 or 6 person, what interior: jacuzzi, restaurant, office or bed, and what exterior shell design they desire for example, wood cabin, retro 2015 car or stained glass mini cathedral.”

Dominic Wilcox
On exhibition at Dezeen and Mini Frontiers, 18th-21st September 2014, at Design Junction, London.

With Thanks to:
Dezeen.com and Mini
Middlesex University Product Design Department: Staff:Wyn Griffiths and Neil Melton, and recent product design graduates Harry Bradshaw and Chris Brennan.
Lynette Wrigley, guidance and support on stained glass making.
Massimo Cappella: Assistance on glass and soldering.

See Dominic Wilcox’s new inventions book Variations on Normal here.

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Stained Glass Driverless Sleeper Car of the Future

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