Rolls-Royce unveils its first driverless car Prototype
Rolls-Royce unveils its first driverless car
Peter Campbell, Motor Industry Correspondent June 16,
2016 12:22 pm
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars on Thursday unveiled its first
driverless car, with a “vision vehicle” it hopes will cast a glimpse into the
future of luxury transport.
With no steering wheel, a door on one side only and a
virtual assistant that can book hotels or advise on your wardrobe selection,
the car marks a different direction for a super-luxury marque.
Several carmakers have revealed plans for self-driving
vehicles. But Rolls-Royce said its customers, who pay as much as £1m for a
bespoke, hand-built model, will still demand a luxurious riding experience in
an era where everyone will be chauffeured by robots.
“In 25 years from now, when you see commoditised bubbles
as cars, there will be our customers who are used to sitting in something that
is luxury,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor
Cars.
The design, over a year in the making, is a rejection of
“utilitarian and bland future modes of mobility”, he added.
The driverless car, called the 103EX, was unveiled in
London at a centenary celebration for BMW, the German carmaker that owns
Rolls-Royce. The car shown by the company is a working model, capable of a top
speed of 3mph and driven by an operator using a mobile phone.
Gone is the 12-cylinder engine that sits under the hood
of Rolls-Royces of today.
The new car is meant to have zero emissions — although
the company admitted it has no idea what will power the vehicle when it enters
production in the late 2040s.
“We are currently assuming it will be electric”, Mr
Müller-Ötvös said.
The door, which will be on one side only, includes a
laser projector that will cast a virtual red carpet on to the floor spreading
away from the vehicle to create a “grand arrival”.
But patrons of the car will also be saved the indignity
of clambering out.
An opening roof, modelled on the clam shell in the
Botticelli painting “The birth of Venus”, would allow passengers to stand up
and step out of the car.
Inside, in an area called the “grand sanctuary”, a silk
sofa sits opposite a 1.5 metre screen that can be used for watching films — or
can become transparent to reveal the surroundings.
But not every aspect of Rolls-Royce’s current models has
been thrown out of the virtual window.
The radiator on the front of the car, and the iconic
Winged Lady on the front, will remain “for as long the company exists”.
And despite having no engine, it will also be the length
of a current Rolls-Royce Phantom — just shy of six metres.
Where the 12-cylinder engine once lay will be a luggage
compartment, which Rolls-Royce designed after consulting the concierge at
London’s Dorchester hotel.
The bags will eject automatically when the car is
stopped, leaving at hand height to allow the porter to whisk them away to the
waiting suite.
“Most Rolls-Royce customers never touch their luggage”,
Mr Müller-Ötvös said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016.
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