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Rinspeed’s Autonomous BMW i3 Called Budii Features Some Rather Stunning Tech

Last December we were telling you that Swiss tuned Rinspeed will be bringing an autonomous BMW i3 to the Geneva Motor Show. Its name back then was rumored to be Budii. Well, somehow, the car was leaked online via an Youtube video ahead of the aforementioned venue.
Rinspeed Budii Interior 77 photos
Photo: Rinspeed
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So, what are we looking at here? Well, the company claims that their aim was to create a car that’s autonomous in as many ways as possible. BMW already introduced an i3 that can drive, park and pick you up all by itself but that was just a demo. This thing can go a lot further.

The cockpit was reshaped to allow both people sitting up front to drive this electric car. Therefore, the steering wheel was mounted on an oscillating axle that can switch sides at the touch of a button. That’s not all it’s capable of doing. If you have an automatic mechanical watch, it can also wind it up, mimicking the movements of one’s hand.

Getting into the car is done without any conventional door handle but with a touch-sensitive button instead. Once inside, you’ll notice the new center console that seems to mimic the one from the Tesla Model S. There’s a huge display in the middle that allows you to operate basically anything.

The devil is in the details


Then there are other details that you’ll want to know about. You might notice the huge sensor on the roof. That’s used for autonomous driving and basically scans the road ahead for obstacles, helping the car avoid them. It can even avoid rocks, as the video below shows, thanks to a system that can raise it up to 70 cm (27.5 inches) from the roof, to scan at greater distances.

Other interesting features include the wireless charging ports for mobile phones, NFC connectivity, a height-adjusting suspension, two mini vehicles stored in the back for short trips from the parking lot to where you actually need to get and many others.

Even the air vents were decorated to better be integrated into the dashboard as well as what the company calls ‘the wellness shower’. We don’t really know what that is supposed to be and Rinspeed wasn’t all that explicit in its press release either.

It’s all looking rather brilliant inside but we’re not sold on the outside though. The i3 is a hard car to begin with from this point of view but their additions sure didn’t make things better. Getting over such subjective issues, however, we have to admire the work put in here by the Swiss company. Let’s see how it fares in front of the general public though!

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