We Designed the RV of 2050
ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHINWORTH
The anatomy of a next-generation exploration machine.
The 2050 RV will be light, small, and modular. “People will still want just as many components,” says Cory Weatherton, director of product development at Entegra RVs. “We’ll have to package everything as multi-use.”
+ It won’t fly. Vertical take-off and landing vehicles (VTOLs) demand massive energy, so RVs will still roll— but maybe on airless tires. “I think non-pneumatic tires will work,” says Rich Schnippel, founder of Encore RVs. “Goodyear has a system, so does Michelin. They know it’s going to happen.”
+ Solar will be everywhere: roof, hood, awning. “Imagine an RV’s entire skin, all angles, covered in solar cells,” says Chris Barth of Ember RVs. “Ev- erything covered in something that produces power.”
+ Appliances—fridge, microwave, heater—will charge constantly via regenerative braking and energy produced by the suspension. Gener- ators will go extinct.
+ Aerodynamics will transform. “We’ll rethink how to lay out the vehicle if you have a skateboard base,” says McKay Featherstone, senior vice president of global innovation at THOR Industries.
+ We’re going up. Slide-outs will give way to slide-ups and lofted spaces, allowing the RV to shrink downward on the road and take up less space at camp.
+ AI will be ubiquitous, allowing the vehicle to do almost everything for you. “You’ll plug your trip into an app, and it will take you there,” says Chris Vogtman, vice president of product portfolio strategy for Winnebago. “You won’t even have to steer it.”
+ Wood will disappear in favor of lighter composite materials. Weatherton also expects new kinds of insulation to ward off the elements.
Your RV will Have friends
Today’s vehicles are already smart, alerting us to traffic, braking and accelerating intuitively. Some even drive themselves (though the driver is still responsible, people!). In coming decades, such technology will explode, evolving beyond on-board cameras into a fully-connected roadway. Your vehicle will talk to other vehicles, all of which will talk to the road. Your RV will be part of a grid that delivers information about speed limits, curves and traffic, information traveling through systems built into the pavement itself. Besides raw information, new kinds of community will come to life on the road. Imagine a live link to every other Airstreamer in motion—or your Winnebago getting a hot campground tip from an Ember.
The Future of the Road
From electric RVs to next-gen campgrounds, the American road trip is changing fast. We asked 25 experts what's next. To see where the journey is headed, explore our Future of the Road coverage.
