Rolls-Royce Unveils First Driverless Car Complete With Silk 'Throne' (theguardian.com) 105
An anonymous reader writes: Rolls-Royce has unveiled its first driverless vehicle dubbed The Vision Next 100. It is an autonomous vehicle aimed at "the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world." There's no steering wheel but there is a silk "throne" where passengers can sit and stare out the window. Rolls-Royce said the zero-emission model, codenamed 103EX, showed the company "rejects the notion of anonymous, utilitarian and bland future modes of mobility." The owner will be "encircled by the most modern handcrafted fine-line Macassar wood panelling" as they gaze at a "generous" high-definition television display. In addition to the "finest one-off deep-pile ivory wool carpet," the vehicle features a virtual assistant named Eleanor, inspired after the actor Eleanor Thornton. It will be able to remind users about meetings; it will even bring the car around to the front of the owner's house at the start of a journey. "As the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 gracefully comes to a halt, something magnificent occurs," the company said. The glass roof rises to allow the occupant to stand, while a step emerges from below the running board and a red light is projected, "carpet-like" to announce their arrival. Rolls-Royce did not say how the vehicle would be powered or how much it costs, but it did say it's due to hit the streets in the 2040s. You can watch a 360-degree video of the 103EX the company posted on YouTube.
Smart or not... (Score:4, Insightful)
...thats one fucking ugly car right there.
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Rich people don't use roads that have bumps in them.
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Rich people don't use roads that have bumps in them.
You have never been to Great Britain, have you?
Manors tend to be at the top of hills. Away from the town centres, serviced by twisty country roads where parts might not even be paved. Or at least not this century. As for the town centres, potholes and sleeping policemen (speed bumps) galore!
Many of the luxury cars have been prized not only for a strong engine that lets the car accelerate effortlessly without sounding like a strangled mule, but ability to shield the occupants from the variable road condit
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All I can think of is HUDSON [wikia.com].
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The article put the wrong picture in there. Notice it does say Next 1000 in there. BMW (the parent company), is planning a
Mini Copper Next 1000
BMW Next 1000
Rolls Royce Next 1000
The BMW next 1000 which is supposed to have a removable steering wheel, but still that picture isn't quite right, I'm not sure where its from but the RR next 1000 that is not.
disagree. its nice (Score:2)
Its way nicer than the trend in round cars that goes back to the early 90s. Its got a bunch of sharp lines, looks like something from batman or a cylon. I really love the look. I always did want a catamaran though.
Its simply too bad it will cost more than i will make in a lifetime.
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...thats one fucking ugly car right there.
Also, I'm not sure the Flintstone-style square wheels are a terribly good idea. Surely they'll make the ride a bit bumpy?
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Yep. How does the damn thing turn anyway?
2040s?!? (Score:3)
Re: 2040s?!? (Score:2, Funny)
Well, at least consult the chart before posting...
Clearly what they're suggesting is that a self-driving throne-car has not been proven conclusively impossible.
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You appeared to reference the XKCD about this, but somehow forgot to link it.
https://xkcd.com/678/ [xkcd.com]
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They are worryingly far behind, aren't they? Tesla already has a zero emission car with autopilot. Nissan is supposed to be releasing their basic autopilot this year, although they say it will be at least 2018 before they can do what Tesla does today. And of course Nissan have a zero emission car too.
I guess RR think they don't have to compete on features because they compete on bling instead.
You could... (Score:5, Funny)
You can watch a 360-degree video of the 103EX the company posted on YouTube.
I could, but the three views I've already seen have caused my eyes to bleed. That is one butt-ugly car. The only way I can rationalize it being a Rolls Royce is that they are so dead set against self driving cars, that they produced this turd-wash to make people gag on the concept of self drive from now on.
Video Link (Score:3)
A link for the lazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
This car rocks.You computer nerds have no style!
It will not just be the first ... (Score:2)
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And that's still one too many.
Fucking Ugly As Sin (Score:5, Insightful)
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I love how the roof opens so that the occupant can stand up, making it easier for onlookers to hit them with rotten fruit.
Already a division of Volkswagen and BMW (Score:2)
> I would bet by 2040 Rolls Royce will be a division of Fiat
The Rolls Royce company was sold to Volkswagen a long time ago. They also bought Bentley. Later, the Rolls Royce brand name was sold to BMW. So what was Rolls Royce is now part of Volkswagen, making cars branded Bentley.
Cars with the Rolls Royce brand are made by BMW, and there's no relation to the original RR company other than the name.
Correction: Bentley was Rolls since 1946 (Score:2)
Correcting myself. I said "they also bought Bentley." In fact, RR bought Bentley back in the 1940s, and they produced virtually identical cars with both namesplates. When VW bought the RR company, the Bentley brand was included. The RR brand name, however, was sold to BMW, who had been making the engines for RR cars.
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24 years ago? That's 1992. No public Internet. No smartphones. No Windows 95 .....
Ruined my keyboard when I got to "No Windows 95". A good reminder of how tech can go downhill as well as up..
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Roads? Where Rolls Royce is going they don't need roads.
Or designers, for that matter.
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When I saw that car I immediately thought of pimps and African country tyrants, maybe with a couple of Arab sheikhs thrown in the mix.
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When I saw that car I immediately thought of pimps and African country tyrants
And the guy in the video backs that up.
And the joke... (Score:2)
"due to hit the streets in the 2040s."
Ah, there's the joke. They're bringing this out long after every other car manufacturer will already be selling autonomous cars. They're promoting their vintage car. By the time it comes out it will be old tech.
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With that lack of clearance it's literally going to be hitting the streets.
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With that lack of clearance it's literally going to be hitting the streets.
I came here to point that out. There's almost zero clearance, and none of the four tires can change direction; this car design can only go forwards and backwards in a straight line.
I agree with the idea that this is some sort of rich-person joke.
silk? (Score:3)
if it doesn't have fine corinthian leather seats I don't want it.
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yeah a commercial with Ricardo Montalban's voice saying that would be awesome.
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I don't think the recording would be awesome as much as the fact that you brought him back from the dead to do the recording.
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the tech has existed for a while to assemble sentences from sufficient collection of recorded phonemes; with Montalban's film and television works from 1941-2009 I'd think all the building blocks should be there for building any sentence in two languages!
The caption says, "butt-ugly". (Score:1)
That it is.
The Homer [nocookie.net] looks much better
okay I give up... (Score:2)
The summary says it doesn't have a steering wheel. The picture in the linked article shows a steering wheel. What?
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That's not a steering wheel. It's a directional hoop.
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It's the wheel for your hamster.
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The designers obviously had today's Minecraft players in mind when they designed the thing.
A car with a toilet - NICE! (Score:1)
No Steering Wheel? (Score:2)
Sure looks like one in that second picture! Or is that a scroll wheel because it's too far away for a touch screen?
LOLWUT? (Score:5, Insightful)
Rolls-Royce said the zero-emission model, codenamed 103EX, showed the company "rejects the notion of anonymous, utilitarian and bland future modes of mobility."
While the outside might be flashy, that's the most bland, boring interior I've ever seen in a concept car. That interior looks like it belongs in a sub-$2000 car for some emerging market.
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The interior is designed for only one purpose. Which is strange because silk stains so easily.
old fuddy (Score:1)
Satire? (Score:3)
I honestly can't tell if this is a satire piece ore not.
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Indeed. The "The owner will be "encircled by the most modern handcrafted fine-line Macassar wood panelling" as they gaze at a "generous" high-definition television display. In addition to the "finest one-off deep-pile ivory wool carpet,"" sounds so Trumptastic.
Oh, you are absolutely correct. You've figured it out.
It's the Trumpmobile. When he is president, he's going order four of them.
Haute Couture (Score:2)
Three thoughts.. (Score:2)
1. Suddenly the Citroen DS-19 [simoncars.co.uk] seems drop-dead gorgeous.
Hm. On reflection, the older I get, the prettier the DS gets. I may even wind up getting one.. one day.
2. Silk?! SILK?! REAL cars use leather, always have, always will!
3. Did RR crib that design from the back of a third-grader's notebook?
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1. Suddenly the Citroen DS-19 [simoncars.co.uk] seems drop-dead gorgeous.
Hm. On reflection, the older I get, the prettier the DS gets. I may even wind up getting one.. one day.
Or go one step up [google.com].
(Another interesting late-60's-to-early-70's model [mercedes-benz.com], although, alas, that one didn't make it into production. Non-Mazda rotary engine, though, so caveat emptor - not that you'll ever be able to buy one of the remaining ones from Daimler-Benz.
And as long as we're talking about Citroens and Wankels.... [wikipedia.org])
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And as long as we're talking about Citroens and Wankels.... [wikipedia.org])
Slashdot Unicode non-support + Wikipedia Unicode characters in URLs = suck.
Try this, instead. [wikipedia.org]
This seems worthless to its target market. (Score:2)
Meaningless lusury (Score:2)
I have to admit, I couldn't be bothered to actually get informed about this new gadget; to me, a car is only ever going to be a tool, and I want to be able to load mine up with useful things like sand, stones, manure and so on. Silk thrones doesn't seem to fit the bill, although I have no experience with using silk in my car.
That said, Rolls Royces are impressive machines. I once drove beside one on the motorway at around 80 mph and thought, that looked very comfortable and rather sedate. When I looked back
Not quite a throne. (Score:2)
Rolls-Royce has unveiled its first driverless vehicle dubbed The Vision Next 100. It is an autonomous vehicle aimed at "the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world." There's no steering wheel but there is a silk "throne" where passengers can sit and stare out the window.
Second picture on the article shows a center-mounted front seat that look like some crap 1960's "space age" design, nothing royal, and a there most certainly is a steering wheel.
Looks like they understand their target market... (Score:2)
With such repugnant phrases such as these:
“ivory-coloured luxurious throne upon which our passengers are conveyed, and from which they command”.
“the powerful have always understood the symbols through which they express their standing”
Ah yes, that'll be the psychopaths who sacrifice everything and everyone to get power and money, then...
Too bad that we keep electing them.
It looks like a post-modern rework of a 20's car. (Score:2)
Which makes sense as this is an even more gilded age.
I'm disappointed... (Score:2)
What, no fine Corinthian leather?
Oh please (Score:2)
"Rolls-Royce did not say how the vehicle would be powered or how much it costs, but it did say it's due to hit the streets in the 2040s."
1) It'll cost more than any mere mortal could possibly afford, and
2) It'l never see the light of day. A 25-year lead time on ANYTHING means it'll never be built and and never come to fruition. FFS, Hoover Dam, the Moon landing, and the Manhattan Project combined didn't take 25 years.
3) Rolls-Royce is just jerking us off with this bullshit. They might have just as well anno
brainfart (Score:2)
"The Vision Next 100 – the brainchild of Giles Taylor"
Must have ment brainFART.
Thinking small (Score:2)
Why not complement the throne with holographic projections of four Nubian slaves bearing the thing?
Holy fail (Score:2)
My favorite part(s) of this article : (Score:1)
Doom. (Score:2)
The owner will be "encircled by the most modern handcrafted fine-line Macassar wood panelling"..
..as they careen at high speed into a concrete abutment and die horribly, when the so-called 'autonomous' system fucks up so badly that nothing can save you, yet you have no controls whatsoever with which to save yourself. Nicely done, Rolls-Royce.
Vapor car is vapor (Score:2)
"Your grand entrance on the red carpet of light."
Really? Who the eff writes this drivel?
Might as well read, "drive this and display your flaming narcissism for all to see!"
Well that's going to be a bumpy ride! (Score:2)
This car has maybe 3" of clearance off the ground. i could see it easily getting stuck pulling in to a parking lot.
Even better Luxury Transport (Score:1)
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