Rinspeed Oasis

You can count on Swiss automotive visionary Frank M. Rinderknecht when it comes to reimagining mobility. With the Rinspeed concept vehicle “Oasis,” the ingenious self-driving electric vehicle for the city and surrounding areas, he refutes the deeply ingrained notion of the urban jungle that requires SUVs the size of battle tanks for the daily struggle for survival. His alternative concept: a maneuverable speedster with an integrated small garden plot behind the windshield.

The Rinspeed boss therefore challenges the martial appearance with mobile urban gardening. With its large glazed areas and shrouds on the front wheels, the refined and swift two-seat runabout looks rather futuristic and is somewhat reminiscent of a modern interpretation of famous Star Wars icon R2D2. They both can turn on their wheels with almost a zero radius. In the case of the “Oasis,” thanks to a special steering angle, two in-wheel electric motors and torque vectoring, all developed by ZF on Lake Constance.

The self-driving Swiss vehicle is not a wallflower or strictly functional like the Google Car, but rather “next gen” - with a host of technical and visual treats inside. Because in keeping with a great tradition, the twenty-third Rinspeed concept car was again engineered by Swiss company 4erC and executed by Esoro.

Speaking of inside: The ultimate eye-catcher is the small garden with enough space for growing radishes or even little Bonsai trees. Automotive supplier Kostal adds the element of nature to the car to make it a true third space. “Home+Garden” becomes “Car+Garden” - brought together by a custom removable planter.

The small garden plot is just one of features that creates a new living space in the interior of the car. Armchairs, sideboard and TV provide a modern living room ambience in white. Everything looks welcoming and inviting, thanks to the efforts of the innovative Swabian textile developers at Strähle+Hess, and Dutch company Stahl, the world market leader in leather and synthetic surfaces in automotive interiors. Together, they created a remarkable ensemble of natural, functional leather with various designs and surfaces complemented by textiles with bright edging highlights. For this purpose, Schoeller Spinning Group supplied an all-new highly elastic wool yarn. Also worthy of note are the elegant aluminum seat bases from GF Automotive in bionic lightweight design, the futuristic retractable air vents, and the multi-purpose storage box from Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe. The floor is made from real wood, and created by the specialists from MeisterWerke. All adhesive bonds in and on the “Oasis” are realized with innovative adhesives from Sika Automotive.

The „Oasis“ will be exhibited at the CES Las Vegas in the Hard Rock Hotel inthe Harman Venue from January 4^th thru 7^th, 2017 and from January 9^th thru22^nd, 2017 at the NAIAS in Detroit in the ZF booth. 

The partners and suppliers in the realization of the "Oasis" are:

4erC GmbH - www.4erc.ch
AXA Winterthur Versicherungen - www.axa-winterthur.ch
Borbet GmbH - www.borbet.de
Carl F. Bucherer - www.carl-f-bucherer.com
Dekra Automobil GmbH - www.dekra.com
Dr. Schneider Unternehmensgruppe - www.dr-schneider.com
Esoro AG - www.esoro.ch
EVA Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH - www.evafahrzeugtechnik.de
Ernst & Young GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft - www.de.ey.com/automotive
GF Automotive - www.gfau.com
Harman International, Inc. - www.harman.com
Harting KGaA - www.harting.com
Huf Group - www.huf-group.com
Leopold Kostal GmbH & Co. KG - www.kostal.com
MHP - A Porsche Company - www.mhp.com
NXP Semiconductors - http://bit.ly/2cdLqlW
Osram - www.osram.com
QNX Software Systems GmbH - www.qnx.com
Schoeller GmbH & CoKG - www.schoeller-wool.com
Siemens AG - Mobility Division - Intelligent Traffic Systems - www.siemens.com/traffic
Sika Automotive AG - www.sikaautomotive.com
Stahl Holdings BV - www.stahl.com
Strähle+Hess GmbH - www.straehle-hess.de
Techniplas - www.techniplas.com
Turkish Automobile Development Center - www.tog.gov.tr
Vites GmbH - www.vites.de
Vollmond Werbeagentur - www.agentur-vollmond.de
WayRay - wayray.com/navion
ZF Friedrichshafen AG - www.zf.com