Automated Chinese Concept Car Has Fishtank Built In To Prove Its Safety
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When it comes to crazy concepts for vehicles, it usually involves flying cars, leaping rovers, or Homer Simpson. The Guangzhou Auto Show in Guangzhou, China recently unveiled a car so baffling, one might need a bigger brain to understand it. And since fish is brain food, it’s perfectly appropriate that the autonomous WitStar Concept car would have a fish tank built right into the middle of it, as a way of proving the safety of the driverless vehicle. This is either a completely genius move, or one that makes no sense whatsoever. Place your bets.
As reported by CarNewsChina, where all the pictures came from, the WitStar somehow wants to prove that the car can avoid accidents, which would smash the fish tank and leave the 10 fish inside dead, and would get water and rocks all over the interior, and nobody wants that. I’m clearly not certain how the inclusion of this fish tank proves that other drivers wouldn’t just smash into this vehicle, or that weather issues wouldn’t give the automated system problems. But this is why I write for an amazing website rather than design cars in China.
Non-living vehicle inhabitants aside, the WitStar looks like a pretty cool ride. The tank sits between two seats in the back, and the two front seats are capable of swiveling around so that the passengers can either watch the road as they travel, as per usual, or they can spin around and feed the fish, or talk to friends, or whatever. (And in this case, “whatever” means something offensively perverse.)
It’s equipped with cameras that map out the world around it by creating a 3D image. It’s unclear just how well this system would work in the real world, however, because there was no actual driving demonstration. It runs on an electric motor with a gas-powered extender. Top speeds reach around 100 mph, and a full trip using both the battery and the gas can take passengers upwards of 370 miles. Not too shabby.
Take a spin (or a swim) around the images below.
With the winged doors, you obviously won’t be able to park this one in between other cars in front of the pet store, but these are early days. There’s no word on when the WitStar will see any advancements or demos, but we’re keeping our eyes peeled. (And our lemons, just in case they decide to put some tastier fish on board.)
