Everyone’s talking about driverless cars.
Everyone’s talking about drones.
Naturally: someone combined them, Frankenstein style.
Rinspeed, the Swiss car company and “innovation lab” that loves to post John Lennon and Gandhi quotes on its homepage — alongside an array of outrageous concept cars — just released info on their first car/drone hybrid.
Dubbed the Ʃtos, the hybrid contains not only an “intuitive, adaptive” autopilot, but a built-in drone, complete with its own on-board landing pad.
In the car’s autonomous mode, the steering wheel contracts into the car, and the curved window screens move closer to the passengers to provide better views, as well as electronic entertainment.
On the back of the car: a drone, of which Rinspeed founder Frank M. Rinderknecht extols the virtues. Besides the flyer’s video capabilities, the car-drone can “fetch a bouquet of flowers the driver ordered online and even deliver it to the lucky recipient,” according to Rinspeed’s press release.
Ʃtos will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early 2016.
Don’t like the drone car? Rinspeed’s a Mecca of outlandish concept cars. Here are a few of our faves from the company’s 35 year history.
sQuba: The world’s first submersible car, inspired by the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Presto: An accordion-like car that “magically” extends from a tiny two-seater to a 12-foot long four-seater (“Presto!”).
Dock+Go: A mini-truck that can ride on either two or three axles, depending on your hauling needs. “Backpacks on wheels,” as they call ‘em.
Tatooo.com: One part hot rod, one part pick-up truck, one part underwater diving machine. And the first car named after its Internet address.
h/t Design Boom
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