What's the news?
Swiss coachbuilder Rinspeed is going to announce a fully autonomous vehicle called the 'Ʃtos' at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. That's the sensible intro. The 'nuts' version would say: a Swiss mad professor has turned the BMW i8 into some kind of crazy launchpad/drone/dancefloor amalgamation that can drive itself. And it has a Swiss clock mounted on the dashboard. Intrigued? Read on to find out more.
Exterior
Look at the profile shot of the Rinspeed Ʃtos carefully and you'll just about see the shape of the BMW i8 upon which this chocolate-box lunacy is based, albeit the car is shorn of its distinctive twin 'aero deck' upper boot structure. The Rinspeed - made out of a mix of ceramics and metal alloys - sits on 20-inch Borbet GTX wheels, which have a titanium protective edge to prevent kerbing incidents, while the glass roof and the drone pad are made of strong, light and thin Gorilla glass; the same stuff used in smartphones.
Drone pad? Oh yes, didn't we mention? The Ʃtos comes with its own remote-controlled flying DJI drone, finished in the same yellow-and-black colour scheme, with the landing platform for the flyer grafted onto the back of the vehicle. This little doozy can (according to Rinspeed) 'pick up a bouquet of flowers for the significant other ordered on the way home', or alternatively fly high above the car and film 'a selfie of the ride in the Ʃtos on your local favourite route, streaming it live to friends!' Seriously, we're not joking.
Furthermore, that landing pad features 12,000 LEDs, so it can be turned into a flashing dancefloor, if you feel the need to be any more conspicuous than a person driving a Rinspeed Ʃtos already is.
Interior
What with floral courier drones and garish dancefloors on the exterior, you might think the cabin has a tough job living up to expectations. Luckily, the Swiss manufacturer clearly had a goodly supply of LSD when designing the Ʃtos, because the interior is even more like the laudanum-induced hallucinations of a madman. First of all, because the vehicle can drive itself if required, the ZF TRW steering wheel can fold away into a dashboard dominated by a pair of curved 21.5-inch Ultra HD widescreens... and a honking great Swiss clock. No, look again - there it is, perched right in the middle of the windscreen. A Patravi Traveltec timepiece from Carl F. Bucherer, it sits in an arched, rotating housing that moves automatically to wind the mechanism. There's even a camera in it, which points at either the driver or front-seat passenger during video calls.
What else? Well, it has a Harman Connected Car technologies infotainment system that learns the preferences of its user over time, preventing the need for repetitive manual satnav inputs and so on. The dashboard is made out of lightweight polymers. An electrical heating system is drafted (if you'll forgive the clunky terminology) in to make the interior warmer, with a battery pre-heating and auxiliary climate control. The battery pack can be used as a stationary energy storage unit as a secondary function. A Mica 'industrial minicomputer' is on board, to record the drivetrain data and send it on to an independent company, for analysis and records-keeping. Much of the car's features can be controlled by a smartphone, while it features radar and car-to-x comms systems. And it's even permanently connected to SIX, the Swiss stock exchange, allowing for 'on-the-go' secure transactions in the Ʃtos - you can even pay people smaller amounts, or tips, by swiping the exterior mirror. Because that's an essential we've always felt modern cars are missing: a mirror-based tips-paying set-up.
Mechanicals
Rinspeed doesn't say a lot about the Ʃtos' mechanicals, so it's safe to assume the midships 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol plus front-mounted electric motor drivetrain of the i8 is retained. What makes the car special is that a phalanx of eight HD exterior cameras allow for fully autonomous driving. They continually monitor the surroundings of the car and they can also be used to provide 180-degree panoramic views forward and behind to the occupants. Further, the Ʃtos has a 'Kerb View' which shows the wheels in low-speed manoeuvring, to prevent knackering the alloys, and the ability to navigate to a previously reserved space in a car park, thanks to pinpoint precision mapping. Of course, as fully autonomous cars are unlikely to be ratified for a few years yet, a lot of this is hypothetical show stand stuff for now, but we digress...
Anything else?
The Rinspeed Ʃtos will be at the CES in Las Vegas in January, in the Muse Hall of the Hard Rock Hotel in the city. It will then have a European premiere at Geneva in March.
Until then, check out this video of the concept in action.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hbswFY4UJFc" width="560" height="315"></iframe>