A child car seat adapted for shared mobility that is foldable, rear-facing and safe for the car travels of the future.

Be Free is a safe and foldable child car seat for children in the age span 1-5 years , that can be transported and stored in an easier way than the common seat. Be Free is developed to fit parents who use shared mobility services together with their children.

This project is inspired by the global trend of increased usage of shared mobility services, which is estimated to result in that more parents will live with a car-free lifestyle and not own a car. Unfortunately, today it is almost a prerequisite to own a car as a parent. A child car seat in the age span of 1-5 years is too heavy and bulky to bring along on public transports or to a carpool service. This results in that many parents ends up owning a car whether they want it or not. We aim to give these parents an option to live a more Free and environmentally friendly life, by offering a child car seat that is both safe and easy to transport.

Be Free has a plastic construction with a metal core to provide stability and the necessary strength to handle forces during a car crash. Be Free is developed according to the child traffic regulation UN R129 and makes use of fast and intuitive attachment systems, to secure optimal safety and a quick installation. When folded, the Be Free can be carried as a backpack through backpack-straps positioned underneath the seat. It has an approximate weight of 10kg. In this way the Be Free concept is designed to be transported and easy to bring along, as well as takes up a smaller space, both at home and on travels. Since the Be Free can be carried on the back, the user's hands are free for more important tasks such as; to carry bags, drag a stroller, or hold a child's hand. The Be Free is fast and easy to install thanks to the thoughtful design of the attachment systems which offer consistency through color-coding of different interaction components.

Be Free is built with a user-centered product development approach. That means early in the development process it was a big focus towards user research, through interviews and surveys, to gain valuable insight about how parents who do not own a car use child car seats today and investigate how a future concept can be better adapted to fit a car-free lifestyle. Important findings from the user research were that parents who do not own a car, in general, own’s a child car seat. This makes them into an unexplored customer group where today’s child car seats are not adapted for them. This group also mentioned that a smooth transportation of the child car seat was an important factor for them. After user research, different ideas and concepts were developed, iterated and narrowed down. The selection of the final concept was based on an evaluation process that included; different methods, expert consultation, self-observations, user insights, and how well the different concepts followed requirements from child traffic regulations. After that, mock-ups were made and iterated to test the final concept in context. When measurements and specifications of the final concept were determined, a visual prototype was constructed in CAD for presentation purposes.

During benchmarking in an early stage of the project, we found a lack of mobile, rear-facing, and safe child car seats on the market. The common child car seats are intended for parents who own a car and who can store the child car seat inside of the car. We only found one mobile model of a rear-facing child car seat in the age span of 1-5 years that was approved by safety regulations. This model takes a long time to install and uninstall in a car and is not intuitive or as safe to use and the ordinary children car seats. Short installation time was something that was valued highly in our user research, which we achieved by using a standardized attachment system in the car and a user-friendly folding mechanism. The intuitive folding mechanism of the Be Free concept, the ability to carry it as a backpack, and fast installation time are unique for a child car seat in the age span for children 1-5 years.

During user studies and benchmarking it was clear that there is a demand for a new mobile solution of a child car seat. The next step for this project is to develop a valid prototype and test it together with parents to guarantee that it is intuitive and accepted by its users. Crash tests and physical evaluations must be performed to guarantee safety and mechanical strength in a car collision. Hopefully, this project ends up with a new child car seat on the market that is safe, that offers families the opportunity to live in a more car-free manner. And in this way ensure child traffic safety for future lifestyles.