It reappeared in England in recent days, in the Future Lab 2021 section of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, alongside other curiosities such as the Pal V flying car, rekindling the interest of the public and experts alike. Its name is Airo, the concept car equipped with a technology capable of cleansing the air of pollutants.

Having attracted considerable curiosity at its debut at the Shanghai Motor Show last April, Airo was a guest at the recently concluded Goodwood event in England, where the BBC met Thomas Heatherwick, its inventor, to take stock of future developments. In the meantime, the concept car that "eats" smog continues to generate discussion, also kindling hopes about the development of a technology that could revolutionise the mobility of the future.

Airo, the car that filters the air, reducing pollutants

Designed for Chinese company IM Motors (a subsidiary of the AliBaba conglomerate) by Heatherwick Studio, it is a fully electric vehicle with "mixed" driving — both autonomous and controlled — that, thanks to a special filtration system, does not merely refrain from polluting but actually reduces pollution. Airo is in fact a kind of "street sweeper" that, as it passes, cleans the air produced by other vehicles by harnessing the Hepa filtration system and releases clean air.

What's more, thanks to the particular configuration of its interior spaces, the car can be transformed into a relaxation area for unwinding, having lunch, and even sleeping, making use of the fully glazed roof, which can turn opaque to conceal the interior and provide the necessary privacy. A retractable screen for projecting films or games is also planned.

A car in which to have lunch, work. Even sleep

"Airo is not simply another electric car that does not pollute the air, but goes further, also sucking in the pollutants emitted by other cars while driving – explained Thomas Heatherwick, founder of the London studio that bears his name – Designed to simultaneously address the global shortage of space, Airo is also a multifunctional room with extra space for having lunch, working, playing or even sleeping."

Alongside the car, the studio has also designed a branded charging station for IM Motors which, as the company intends, will become an integral part of urban infrastructure: made from industrial materials, including weathering steel, it features a retractable cable and an ergonomic handle for easy connection to vehicles, and a design conceived to blend into the urban fabric.

This is not the first "foray" into the world of electric mobility for Heatherwick Studio, which has among other things signed the futuristic "Vessel" — one of the new architectural symbols of New York. Heatherwick also created the Routemaster project, reimagining the iconic double-deckers, the red two-storey buses that are a symbol of London, and Boat, the tourist transport vessel on the Loire between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.

For now it's a prototype. But by 2023 it could become a reality

Airo, which is expected to enter production in 2023, is in effect a perfect synthesis of the future, a trait d'union between zero-emission cars and the range of "urban furnishings" that do not simply decorate but actively participate in the cleansing of the air.

This is the case, for example, with anti-smog murals, works of art that, thanks to special paints, help reduce pollution, or with a particular type of hedging shrub, the Cotoneaster, which according to the Royal Horticultural Society is capable of absorbing 20 per cent more airborne pollutant particles than other plants.