Italian Design House Delivers ‘Mover’ Shuttle and More at CES

• At CES this year, the Italian firm and coachbuilder's design touches could be found throughout the transportation area via multiple collaborations.

• Holon's fully electric Mover carries up to 15 passengers, operates at a maximum speed of 37 mph (60 km/h) and has a range of about 180 miles (290 km).

• Togg displayed the Pininfarina-designed Beyond X, a seat and screen combination that delivers choose-your-own-adventure experiences.

Pininfarina is no stranger to visual experiments that may or may not become actual vehicles. At CES this year, the Italian design firm and coachbuilder's design touches could be found throughout the transportation area with design collaborations that explore the ways people might move around tomorrow or the day after.

Two previously unveiled vehicles on display at CES with Pininfarina involvement were the VF 8 and VF 9 electric SUVs at the VinFast booth. One of Pininfarina’s new collaborations was with Benteler Automotive, a project that produced the boxy "autonomous mover" from Benteler's new independent entity and subsidiary company, Holon.

"We thought that it is really important to have an attractive design for the Mover to attract people to take the new mobility as an offer," Holon's Marco Kollmeier told me at CES. "That's the reason why we worked together with professionals like Pininfarina, which took over the role of making the exterior design and the interior design."

Holon has been working with Pininfarina since 2020 on a vehicle platform, and the two companies deepened their partnership to develop the Mover. Pininfarina designed the Mover—and yes, that's the vehicle's official name—to be inclusive and functional.

It has an asymmetric wrap-around rear window similar to the one from a Nissan Cube, and the large, double-wing doors can automatically extend a ramp for anyone who can't make the step up or down.

The Mover can even secure wheelchairs in place automatically, and there are Braille and audiovisual guides available. Holon said it plans to use a variety of sustainable materials in the production version of the Mover.

Holon is also working on the Mover with Beep, which is already in the autonomous shuttle field and will serve as the operations partner for the Mover. Mobileye and Cognizant Mobility are contributing Level 4 self-driving technology for the vehicle.

The fully electric Mover carries up to 15 passengers, operates at a maximum speed of 37 mph (60 km/h) and has a range of about 180 miles (290 km). Holon said it will conduct pilot projects in the US and Germany later this year and expects to start production in the US by the end of 2025.

Shooting for a production model in such a short time means not being able to fit every customer's feature request into the Mover, but the company did ask potential customers what they wanted in a vehicle like this.

"Achieving scale does not mean you have endless variety," Kollmeier said. "It's important to find out what is the best idea to serve the customer. In the end, the Mover has to be bought as it is. If you build for every customer, you don't achieve the scale.”

Pininfarina had a hand in something at the Togg display area at CES as well. Togg is a Turkish technology company that also offers vehicles. Togg and Pininfarina worked together on Togg's first prototype SUV in 2019, a design that shared some aspects of Pininfarina's K350 Concept, Togg's Ezgi Ekin Ozdemir told me.

Sales of Togg's first product, a C-segment SUV, will start in March, and Togg's second vehicle is coming in October 2023. For eye candy at its CES booth, Togg brought along something called Beyond X, a seat and screen combination that combines choose-your-own-adventure attitudes with "an immersive hybrid experience that transforms your reality through your senses."

To go for a "ride" in the Beyond X, you first choose some options based on mood (the forest for a calm ride, or a trip to Saturn for a more fantastical experience, for example).

The Pininfarina-designed seat and enclosure in the Beyond X puts the viewer in front of a giant screen that displays artistic interpretations of the journey. Togg even included scent diffusers to enhance the experience, as is suitable for CES.