The world's first road-licensed quick-change modular electric vehicle, based on a patent awarded to Dr Gordon E Dower in 2000, was shown at the
World Electric Vehicle Association 2003 Electric Vehicle Symposium EVS-20 in Long Beach, California, USA. Dower described the vehicle's two parts as its motorized deck, shortened to
Modek, and its "containing module" or
Ridon. When attached to each other, the vehicle thus formed was dubbed the
Ridek. Mechanical connections between the modules for braking and steering automatically engage when the body is lowered onto the chassis. In 2004, General Motors attempted to patent a modular vehicle called
Autonomy, but the attempt was unsuccessful because Dower's patent already existed. A team at GM did, however, continue to work on Autonomy, which was intended to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. They unveiled a non-drivable version of their modular vehicle in January 2002 at the Detroit Auto Show. GM unveiled a drivable prototype, called
Hy-wire at the Paris Auto Show in September 2002. The name referred to the Hydrogen fuel and the "
Drive by wire" system that electronically connected the vehicle modules for steering, braking, and controlling the four wheel motors. Hy-wire did not go into production. In the 2010s, a number of modular platforms were developed by car manufacturers.
Geely Auto developed the
Compact Modular Architecture platform (2017),
B-segment Modular Architecture platform (2018), and
Sustainable Experience Architecture platform (2021). PSA Group and Dongfeng developed the
Common Modular Platform (2018) ==Flexibility==