GMC has come up with a solution to the rising costs of fuel and rent -- the GMC PAD. Created for the California Design Problem, the PAD is a mobile city loft meant to ease the difficulties of dwelling in Southern California. The future of Motor Houses. See extra footage of idea vehicles. As an alternative of renting from a landlord and paying the often sky-excessive SoCal rent charges, the proprietor of a PAD just lives in it, and makes his dwelling wherever he occurs to be parked. To get to work, the PAD owner simply parks his "cell city loft" near the workplace and walks, avoiding the necessity of commuting on clogged highways. Better nonetheless, he can use the PAD's on-board technology to work instantly from throughout the PAD itself. The PAD is a high-tech motor house made for dwelling in full-time, not just for weekend journeys. It is packed with the most recent communications equipment and amenities, which is why GMC calls it a Dwelling Exercise Vehicle, or LAV.

The GMC PAD doesn't actually exist, nevertheless. General Motors' Advanced Design Team created it for the California Design Problem, a contest held on the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Present. The theme for the challenge was "An L.A. Adventure." Ten totally different corporations, together with Hyundai, Scion, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, got here up with concepts to reflect the vast variety of actions accessible in Southern California. A panel of design consultants gave first place to the GMC PAD. Statistics in regards to the PAD are exhausting to come back by, since it only exists as a computer design. It is comparable in size to a modern motor house -- in reality, it's in all probability shorter than a few of the huge motor homes available on the market. It seems to be very broad, but for sensible purposes, it can't be any wider than a normal visitors lane. Particular weight numbers should not available, although it will likely be comparable to a regular motor residence. A 25-foot motor dwelling weighs about 10,000 lbs.

300-horsepower engine. Space-age materials akin to composites may cut back the weight, however the weight of the communications tools could compensate for that financial savings. The PAD contains DirecTV, OnStar and XM Satellite tv for pc WiFi. Which means customers would have fixed access to more than a hundred Tv channels, excessive-velocity wireless Web, and a variety of OnStar services, including car diagnostics, emergency help, and site visitors, travel and weather info. You would not need to work very laborious to seek out that data, both. The inside walls of the PAD are lined with large LCD screens. To keep all the things running easily, GMC says that the PAD has "a teraflop of on-board memory." This does not make a lot sense, since a teraflop is a measure of computational speed reasonably than Memory Wave System capability. Perhaps the PAD has on-board computer methods that can run at one teraflop. Or they might have meant "terabyte." However, maybe the PAD can make the Kessel Run in underneath 12 parsecs, too.
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If kicking back and watching a DVD on an enormous LCD display is not stress-free enough, the aft portion of the PAD is a "private spa." This features a kitchen space with a "full suite of PAD-particular appliances created by Thermador," and other options created by Kohler. Whether this includes a working shower and bathroom isn't indicated, but we are able to assume they're there. Saving on a monthly rent fee is not any large help if you are caught paying tons of of dollars for gas every week. For that cause, PAD was designed to operate efficiently with the newest power technologies. A Diesel-Electric hybrid engine powers the PAD in each LiveMode and DriveMode. A totally computerized resource administration system permits the PAD to wring every last drop out of gasoline and potable water provides, with the projected time between refills lasting weeks or months. To supplement vitality demands, six sq. meters of photovoltaic cells cowl the highest of the PAD, charging on-board batteries with vitality collected from the sun.

The computer systems also management the suspension, giving the PAD a smooth, straightforward experience and leveling it out automatically in LiveMode. As a result of the PAD was created purely as a design challenge, it is not essentially meant to be a realistic vehicle. GMC has absolutely no plans to provide a prototype PAD, much much less a manufacturing model for sale to most people. However what would the GMC PAD be like if it did exist? It will probably cost a bundle, for one factor. New excessive-finish motor properties can cost within the range of $800,000 to $1 million, and models which are more modest can nonetheless attain $250,000. The PAD is actually a high-finish machine, with its "infotainment" gadgets, LCD screens, solar cells and hybrid engine. At minimal, its price must be just a few hundred thousand dollars. You'd should dwell in it for a few years to make up that distinction in rent financial savings, and that does not take into consideration gasoline costs or considerations about where you'd park your PAD.