Identified from mobility trends analysis, the dual-city resident emerged as a specific and underserved user group with a recurring need for long-distance ground travel.
Maybach nightway
Degree Project
2026
Across Europe, a growing population of professionals, families, and frequent travellers maintain lives split between two cities, making long-distance travel a recurring necessity. Existing solutions offer either genuine rest without privacy, as in night trains, or privacy without genuine rest, as in chauffeur services and luxury vehicles. No purpose-built ground-based solution addresses both simultaneously. At the same time, the mobility landscape is shifting from ownership toward service-based access, and advances in vehicle autonomy are creating conditions for a new category of travel entirely. This project investigates how automotive exterior design can enable rest as the primary purpose of a long-distance journey. The approach combined mobility trend research, user needs analysis, and iterative exterior design exploration, developed in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Exterior Design Production Studio in Sindelfingen, Germany, with a shared interest in exploring generative AI visualization tools as part of a professional exterior design workflow. The result is The Maybach Nightway, a premium autonomous mobility service concept for the year 2050, connecting major European cities door to door on journeys of up to 12 hours. The exterior design is characterised by a long wheelbase, a low and pure silhouette, and a long tail integrating luggage access at ground level. The concept positions the Maybach Nightway as the premium tier of a future MaaS ecosystem for cross-border travel, establishing spatial and service standards that can inform more accessible tiers as the market evolves.
Background
Over 2 million people commute across EU borders regularly, and nearly 20% of inter-city travelers maintain double-city lives. For these users, the journey is a recurring cost in time and energy. No existing ground-based solution combines genuine rest with privacy and door-to-door convenience, and that gap defined the design opportunity.
Methodology
Developed in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz Exterior Design Production Studio in Sindelfingen, the project combined mobility research, user analysis, and iterative exterior design exploration. Package requirements drove formal decisions from the inside out. Visualization used a hybrid workflow of traditional sketching, 3D modelling, VR-based package validation, and generative AI tools via ComfyUI, an area of shared interest with the studio team.
Results
The exterior proposes a long, low silhouette and long wheelbase with a pure surface language and a long tail integrating a ground-level luggage elevator. The greenhouse sits forward for safety, keeping the headrest far from both ends when sleeping, and low ground clearance maximizes stability during sleep. Reduced chrome and restrained detailing redefine luxury through discretion.
The Maybach Nightway sits at the premium end of a future MaaS ecosystem for cross-border travel. As aviation and rail established service standards from the top tier down, this concept serves as a testing ground for spatial and design language that can inform more accessible tiers as the market matures.
In collaboration with:
UID26 | Santiago Sánchez – Grad project presentation
Maybach Nightway: Concept video
Early ideation exploring different formal directions and the first spatial studies for the Day Room and Night Room dual-mode configuration.
Heritage references from Maybach's 1930s archive informed the formal language, with continuous surfaces and pure volumes as a foundation for a design that communicates through restraint rather than detail.
Selected for its low ground clearance, optimizing stability for sleep, and for positioning the greenhouse mid-vehicle, keeping the headrest far from both ends for safety in case of impact.
The iconic vertical grille signature reinterpreted with reduced chrome and a purer surface language, redefining luxury through discretion rather than display.
Exterior technology integration: Perimeter Awareness System sensor band and retractable pop-up LiDARs and cameras for autonomous 360 vision.
Ground-level luggage elevator integrated into the long tail, allowing effortless loading at pickup. Maria and Pietro departing from their home in Vienna.
Maybach Nightway on a European alpine route. Induction charging at strategic stops keeps the journey uninterrupted.
Before departure. Ready to board, with the certainty of arriving rested.
