SEPTEMBER 2023

FEATURE
The Cadillac Halo Portfolio
HANNONA continued from page 22
One of Thamer’s own contributions
to Brazilian culture was the
hookah. “I brought my hookah to
Brazil and my friends were really into
it,” he said. “I actually made some of
my best friends there, people who are
now lifelong friends.”
In 2007, Thamer officially moved
to Los Angeles. One of his first projects
was designing the famous Bumblebee
Camaro in the fourth installment of
Transformers movie franchise, called
“Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
The Camaros in past Transformers
movies were facelifted Camaros that
already existed, and the idea was to
repeat that process. When Director Michael
Bay was making the fourth movie,
however, the sixth generation of
Camaro was in development and still
unavailable to the public, and Michael
Bay wanted something new.
The solution was a 1 of 1 Camaro
that Thamer designed in consultation
with Michael Bay. Besides that
one vehicle, that car did not make it
into production. “I worked with the
production designer and Michael Bay
hand-in-hand to make it,” Thamer
said. When it came out, the movie was
top-15 grossing all time and has generated
over $1 billion in gross revenue.
Now, Thamer leads a team of designers
at GM. Because of his status
on the advance team, most of his
projects are secret and he isn’t able to
talk about them in public. Recently,
however, over the last few years one
of his most compelling projects was
released. Cadillac’s Halo Concept Portfolio
certainly comes from the future.
The automotive industry is in the
middle of two specific transitions that
offer new challenges and ideas for
Thamer and his team. First, demand
for and efficiency of electric cars is constantly
increasing, making them better
alternatives to gas cars. For many reasons,
it’s clear that this is the way of
the future. The resulting mechanical
changes to vehicles, like the lack of a
combustion engine and the inclusion
of a large battery, means that car designers
need to dream up new ideas.
Just as well, autonomous driving is
somewhere on the horizon, albeit a bit
further away. The automotive industry
currently has designated six levels of
automation in vehicles. Most cars on the
road function at level zero, where the
operator is responsible for all braking,
steering, and accelerating. Most new
cars are level one, which means the car
can apply brakes if you get too close to
the car in front of you and aid with steering,
like automatic lane assist.
Level two allows the driver to realistically
disengage from operating the
vehicle for an extended period of time,
but it’s not quite reliable enough for the
driver to take their eyes off the road.
Right now, this is the most advanced
technology that is commercially available.
Tesla Autopilot and Cadillac Super
Cruise both qualify as level two.
Levels three, four, and five describe
high levels of automation that require
almost no attention from the driver. At
level five, which only exists conceptually,
the car is not even equipped with
any pedals, brakes, shifters, or steering
wheels. These vehicles demand a
complete interior redesign, since cars
previously were designed around the
necessity of pedals and a steering
wheel. In addition, the passengers in a
level five car now have to be occupied
by something besides driving itself.
This shift requires intense creativity
on the part of Thamer and his designers.
The Cadillac Halo Portfolio is
meant to showcase the first conception
of a true level 5 automation. It consists
of three vehicles, two ground-based
and one quadcopter, that serve fully
different purposes. The vision is that
these cars are subscription-based. As
a subscriber, you can schedule or call
a vehicle when you need it and it will
arrive to deliver you where you need.
The first vehicle, which looks
like a massive drone, is called the
PersonalSpace. “For high net-worth and
busy people, time is the most valuable
thing,” Thamer said. “You can do things
in this vehicle without having to spend
time driving. This will buy you time.” In
addition, the three-dimensional nature
of the quadcopter negates traffic and
allows you to skip traffic altogether.
The second vehicle reminds one of
a large van, and it’s called the Social-
Space. This is where you’d spend time
with a large group of people. If you want
to go out with friends, or if you have a
business meeting, this is a great option.
The interior of this space is designed in a
style similar to a luxury limousine.
24 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2023