This project built on the Smart Pods research study completed in 2009, which proposed a new system of mobile healthcare to treat patients in the community and hospitals. Building on six years of research, this design is set to improve the experience for patients and to create a better treatment space for staff. In order to accommodate the demands of twenty-first-century healthcare, the ambulance interior includes a reconfigured layout with 360° access to the patient, thus improving clinical efficiency. This project has been selected as one of the nominations for the Design Museum Designs of the Year 2012 exhibition and awards.

A two-year research project bringing together designers at the Royal College of Art and academics from Loughborough University and the Universities of the West of England, Bath and Plymouth, Smart Pods examined the delivery of urgent healthcare. Selected as one of the top research projects by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Smart Pods concept included a suite of proposals for radical new features and design innovations facilitating the delivery of mobile healthcare. Scale models of potential Smart Pods designs – as envisaged by Vehicle Design Master’s students – were exhibited in the exhibition Healthcare on the Move.