Hankook designs earn IDEA recognition

ATLANTA — Hankook Tire America Corp. received bronze and finalist awards for a pair of futuristic concepts at the 2017 International Design Excellence awards ceremony Aug. 19.

The company collaborated with students from the University of Cincinnati to design Flexup and Shiftrac, which received the bronze and finalist awards, respectively.

Flexup is a one-person vehicle that can maneuver stairs and speed bumps in cities with narrow roads using driving treads that expand and contract. It can reach a speed of about 22 miles per hour in a city environment.

Shiftrac is a hyper-agility-based tire concept designed to perform driving within a mega city, with strong cornering and fast lane-change capabilities, according to a company statement.

"It is an incredible honor to be recognized alongside and by such giants in the industry," said Hayden Lapiska, student leader for the award-winning team. "Hankook is an incredible company with extremely talented designers, and it was through their proven design sense that we won this award."

IDEA is an international design competition sponsored annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America and judged by design experts worldwide. This year's five judging criteria were design innovativeness, user experience, user benefits, social responsibility and aesthetic impression.