Rinspeed Budii trans-urban SUV debuts at 2015 Geneva Motor Show

Swiss tuner Rinspeed is back with a new out there concept car to debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Watch a video demonstrating Budii below.

Swiss car tuning shop Rinspeed has dazzled us over the past decade with unique concept cars. The company already tackled swimming cars, flying cars, see-through cars and many more. For the 2015 Geneva Motor Show next month, Rinspeed will unveil the trans-urban SUV Budii with self-driving capability.

Rinspeed’s Budii demonstrates automated private transport and how it will transform the car and the man-machine system.

Self-driving cars are the hippest thing in automotive these days. Apple is even now rumored to get into making autonomous cars. Google is already since a while exploring self-driving cars and more recently the gig German car makers joined into the hype.

See photos of the Budii Concept Car

In the new Budii concept car designed by Frank M. Rinderknecht a robotic arm is handing over the steering wheel to the driver of front passenger as desired. The sensitive 7-axis unit is more than a steering column. During automated driving in the daily commute it parks the steering wheel in the center with minimum space requirements or it serves as a table or attentive personal valet. This is made possible by the multi-redundant “steer-by-wire” technology from Paravan.

For the automotive idea factory Rinspeed the robotic arm in “Budii” is a symbol and food for thought at the same time. Rinspeed-Boss Rinderknecht puts it as follows, referring to a joint study with consulting firm EY: “The autonomously driving car will require more than solving technical problems and legal issues in the next two decades. We not only have to redefine the interaction of man and machine, but must also raise questions about responsibility, tolerances and expectations.”

According to Rinderknecht, autonomous driving will undoubtedly offer the opportunity to make traffic more people-friendly and reduce the number of traffic accidents worldwide. “But even the best technology will not be perfect, albeit less prone to error than humans. That is something we will have to accept,” says the boss of the Swiss powerhouse of automotive ideas Rinspeed. “We should not develop a blind, but rather a healthy trust in the new capabilities of the hardware and software.”

“In the future, cars will do just as we do: they will keep learning every day, and as a result will get better and better at mastering the complex challenges of modern-day private transport.” To this end, “Budii” will take information from its surroundings, its own “experiences” and those of other vehicles along its route into consideration. The long-term result will be a cognitive and intuitive autopilot. The Swiss company will demonstrate what such a “friend on wheels” could look like with the trans-urban SUV “Budii” at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.

About Rinspeed

Frank M. Rinderknecht founded Rinspeed back in 1977. The company only has 5 full-time and three part-time employees.