Check out this robotic looking Land Rover concept car. Although it appears to be something you might see the X Men driving, the car has in fact been designed to protect you from a far more everyday evil – road traffic accidents and any other danger associated with the road.
This car, known as the Land Rover Aegis design study, is being hailed as the safest SUV on the planet. This is pretty newsworthy, as SUVs are typically lagging behind other vehicles in the safety stakes. Vehicles such as the
Porsche Macan, for example, have spectacularly failed the ‘moose test’ – wherein the car simulates having to avoid a moose in the road at high speed. (Yes, it’s a weird Scandinavian thing, but it’s now well respected in the car industry…)
Although this car hasn’t been officially safety rated yet, you can immediately tell that it’s going to be different. Created by Mathew Robson, who is studying vehicle design at the
Royal College of Art, the Land Rover is designed to be as solid as possible. So solid, in fact, that it revolves around “intersecting monolithic surfaces” – those huge panels that make it look more like an armoured vehicle than an SUV.
Not only are there enormous, very thick metal panels on the outside, which Robson says are inspired by conker shells, but the interior also
contains a metal framework wrapped around the seats – designed to make passengers feel as safe as possible
To reduce the chance of an accident even further, the Land Rover is fitted with a fully autonomous system, meaning that there’s no room for human error. Although it’s only a concept car, we reckon the Aegis, and Robson, are ones to watch in future – with Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to new technology you never know what could happen.