HACK THIS CAR PLEASE!!!

Designer Yves Behar, perhaps best known for his involvement in the One Laptop Per Child project, unveiled a curious hackable car concept at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York this morning.

Behar, citing the brief for the original Deux Chevaux vehicle (two peasants, transporting farm goods at 60 kilometers per hour, wearing hats), argues that hackability should be incorporated into automakers' plans. While I don't know how that could be achieved easily and affordably in America, Behar's vision is aimed at developing areas. His designs show a curvy, compact vehicle with interchangeable parts that could turn it from a truck into a taxi or an emergency vehicle.

Engadget's Paul Miller, also in attendance at the conference, points to the similarities between the car design and the elements in the One Laptop Per Child computer. So far the car remains entirely conceptual--it's unclear how it would be powered--although Behar's work on the Mission One superbike makes me confident in his ability to work out the details.

The hackable car is part of a larger design approach, where desirable products gain traction in developing parts of the world first before a hipster in Brooklyn goes, "Hey, where can I order one?" 

Referring to his digital sketches, Behar said, "I want that cute car. We need to find somebody to make it." Hopefully an automaker, either large or small, will consider working with him on it. Because I want one, too.

Photo: Designer Yves Behar shows off the hackable car concept. Credit: Alyssa Danigelis