The driverless car promises a future free of road danger, but while most will welcome an end to speeding, road rage and dangerously tired drivers, how best to sell the idea to those British motorists reluctant to take a back seat? Concept designers Rinspeed think they have the answer; Oasis is a driverless car that doubles up as a garden. A small plot beneath the windscreen features a removable planter big enough to raise a few vegetables or even a Bonsai tree.
The unusual design seeks to counter the deeply ingrained notion that negotiating the urban jungle requires an SUV the size of a battle tank in the daily struggle for survival.
Complimenting the small garden plot and reinforcing the look and feel of a modern urban flat, the interior of the Oasis feature wooden floors, white walls, armchairs and a television.
Mirroring the move by workers towards a gig economy, the Oasis is willing to work for its supper. Questions over who will own the driverless car, who will operate it and what will it be used for have been left open by Rinspeed; the vehicle has been designed and equipped to keep all conceivable options open. If society is willing to share goods in a beneficial way, driverless technology enables the vehicle to be what you want, wherever and wherever you choose; a food delivery service in the morning, a shipping services counter for a parcel service in the afternoon, a pizza delivery vehicle at night.
And should you feel like taking back the wheel at any stage? Well that’s ok too – as soon as the car decides you’ve passed its automatically administered fitness and alertness test.
Ethical insurance
The ETA has been voted the most ethical insurance company in Britain for the second year running by the Good Shopping Guide.
Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, we are proud to have earned an ethical company index score of 89.
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty six years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
Paul Bunting BSc Msc
I, when I lived in London, used to be able to drive to Northumberland, to catch up with some friends, and get there by tea time. But now I live at Worthing on the West Sussex Coast, it is impossible to do it it one day. Both London and its M25 are serious and tiring obstacles. A self driving car would be a boon to me because it could drive me to Northumberland while I could sleep or read my newspaper and drink my coffee on the back seat. I asked the makers of my car (Volvo) if they could produce a kit for converting my V70 to drive itself and they replied that the were still sorting out the drive and safety features of their self driving model. We shall have to wait and see. I do carry a bootload of food, drink, clothes, maps and equipment when I drive my car on holiday and if the self drive model won’t do it I shall have to travel to Northumberland by train and hire a car when I reach my destination, and get one of those luggage carrying firms to bring my suitcases for me. These trips require considerable planning so as not to forget anything.
Paul Bunting BSc Msc
AND when I mentioned this notion of self diving cars to my colleagues in one of my campaigns against privatisation of NHS services, once man said we already have one: it is called the train. So there is not universal support for cars let alone self-driving ones.
John Mullen
Surely the idea of gardening in a car is a wind up? This sort of nutty idea does the adoption of SDCs no good at all as it only provokes derision?
clarke
what a brilliant idea; Good On Oasis.