VIDEO: CONCEPT CAR: RINSPEED SNAP CAN SOLVE MANY ISSUES

The Swedish powerhouse of ideas, Rinspeed, will present a skateboard and a pod at the consumer electronics show (CES 2018) in Las Vegas. The skateboard is actually a chassis and the pod, well it is a pod, but snapped together and you have yourself the concept car/mobility ecosystem called Snap.

Rinspeed's Snap seems to solve many issues, but one issue in particular: lifecycles.
"The lifespan of IT and automotive are extremely different. Four short IT years clash with eighteen long, mileage-defined automotive years. How can one harmonize them?" asks the narrator of Rinspeed's video (below).

Rinspeed claims to have solved the issue with Snap's chassis skateboard and safety cell pod separate from each other after the hardware and software get old. The giant board is no good on its own, but it should be noted that the pod could potentially be useful stationary – as a camping pod or a cosy cuddle pod. The skateboard carries long-lasting mechanical and fast-ageing IT components. These components are recycled after a few years while the less-stressed cuddle pod remains in service long-after, until it finally too, is recycled.

Everything snaps together nicely like the name implies. The twenty-fourth concept car from Rinspeed was designed at swiss company 4erc and technically executed at Esoro. The electric vehicle has received a contribution from a reputable network of global companies, a partial collection of the ideas and specs follow.

The two steering axles and the electric powertrain comes from ZF. They claim to turn the snap on a dime while producing no emissions in urban traffic. Weight-optimized 7×18" Borbet Alloy wheels minimize fuel consumption. Every adhesive bond in and on the Snap is realized with innovative adhesives from Sika Automotive. A personal assistant (interestingly optional) presents itself in the form of an autonomous robot.

Gentex contributes an iris scanner for occupant detection and dimmable glass elements. Lidar sensors from Ibeo in Hamburg detect obstacles on the road via real-time-measurement of light reflections. There is also a smart antenna, HD maps for autonomous driving, a digital cloud platform, face recognition, biometric identification, ultraviolet interior LEDs that render bacteria harmless, a quick-charging cable, a Marketplace network (MHP), urban farming containers, and of course, wifi.

The concept certainly has a lot of… spec-concepts, but the transmission of data and information has been tested and certified.

It is rare to find a concept car that offers so many interesting solutions to such specific problems, the most specific of which, again: lifecycles. It will be interesting to hear how many spectators snapped along with Rinspeed at the CES in Las Vegas.

In the meantime have a look at the full concept of the Snap in the video below.