The Red Dot Award: Design Concept has unveiled its 2026 Best of the Best winners, a tier just below the competition's top Luminary prize, honoring unbuilt ideas that a jury of designers judged worthy of a standing ovation. The award has celebrated concepts since 2005, and this year's slate ranges from rideable robots to a six-seat flying car.
Among the standout entries is Hyundai's MobED Urban Hopper and MobED Golf, developed by Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai Genesis Global Design. The MobED began as a flat, four-wheeled robot platform with self-leveling capability, built to haul cargo and follow people. The two new concepts place a rider on that base, shaped around what Red Dot describes as a compact robotic mobility platform with multi-directional driving and modular applications. A slim upright column carries a handlebar and a glowing round headlight above four chunky wheels. The Urban Hopper is aimed at city trips, while the MobED Golf takes the same chassis onto the fairway, with thumbnails showing it carrying a golf bag. Hyundai says the pair also earned a nomination for the Luminary, the competition's top prize. The existing MobED is already pitched at business customers.
Tangibook, a portable refreshable Braille reader by Mao Chengjie, Zhao Chenyang, and the TRIZID and Ningbo University team, addresses a persistent gap in publishing. Only a small fraction of printed books ever receive a Braille edition, leaving blind readers dependent on others to decide what they can read. Tangibook converts printed text into real-time tactile output, allowing a visually impaired user to read independently, accurately, and privately. Seven designers are credited on the project, built by TRIZID Industrial Design in Ningbo with Ningbo University. The device carries rows of Braille cells under both hands, with a dial and buttons on the right, and thumbnails show it propped on a folding stand or tucked under an arm. Refreshable Braille displays often cost thousands of dollars and typically depend on a phone or computer for content. Tangibook goes straight to the paper, cutting out the middleman and the waiting list.
Xpeng's Aridge unit submitted the A868, a six-seat hybrid-electric tilt-rotor that Red Dot describes as a full tilt-rotor flying car built for efficient regional air mobility, mixing vertical takeoff, long range, and comfort for premium travel. Aridge, the flying car unit Xpeng rebranded from Aeroht, led the design with JuanMa Lopez and Wang Tan, plus a dozen more designers. A top-down render shows a white fuselage with a black belly, ARIDGE lettered across the wings, and six rotor pods spread over a forested coastline. Aridge claims a range above 500 km (310 miles) and a top speed over 360 km/h (224 mph) thanks to a hybrid-electric powertrain. Joby's S4 seats five, making the extra seat a point of differentiation. Xpeng says the prototype has entered test flights, putting it ahead of most renders in the lineup.
Norton Motorcycles contributed the Manx R, a wingless, decal-free V4 superbike from the British marque now owned by India's TVS Motor Company. Head of Design Simon Skinner led the project, with Gerry McGovern, known for his Jaguar Land Rover work, advising as Norton's chief creative advisor. Red Dot calls it a modern, reductive take on the superbike, free from racing regulations and built around the road rider. The silver-white bodywork sweeps nose to tail without a single decorative line, while an all-new 1,200cc V4 making roughly 200 horsepower sits underneath, backed by semi-active suspension, Brembo brakes, and an 8-inch TFT touchscreen. Fixings stay hidden while the mechanical bits stay on show, so the machinery does the decorating.
The Best of the Best tier sits just below the Luminary, Red Dot's highest honor, which is recognized separately. Together, the 2026 selections reflect a jury rewarding concepts that solve practical problems, from independent reading to regional air travel, alongside designs that rethink familiar categories like the superbike.