Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 15 February 2008 16:38
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 4
Rinspeed say that when you drive the sQuba underwater, the car actually floats - until you open the door to let the water in.
As an open top sports car, you are not in a safe bubble where everything is dry, instead, the car’s interior is specially created to be salt-water resistant, with the effect being like scuba diving underwater – from the driver’s seat!
Rinspeed say that the occupants’ breathing air “comes from an integrated tank of compressed air that divers know from scuba diving”.
Here Rinderknecht said that: “For safety reasons we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency. With an enclosed cabin opening the door might be impossible.”
But safety wasn’t the only reason for choosing an open-top design. Rinspeed say that “with an enclosed volume of just two cubic meters of air the vehicle weight would have to increase by two tons (!) to counteract the unwanted buoyancy, giving the “sQuba” the land mobility of a turtle”.
It sounds like you must stay in the car when submerged, for apparently without occupants the “sQuba” surfaces automatically.
However the car still has more Bond-like tricks up its sleeve, as Rinspeed say it is even capable of “autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger”.
So, how about the car’s power system? Please read onto page 3.
