Makrolon®, Makrofol®, Bayfol®, Bayblend®, Desmodur®/Desmophen®, Bayhydur®/Bayhydrol®

A “sense-ational” drive

Design study, science faction, automotive fantasy. In March, visitors to the Geneva Motor Show will be able to feast their eyes on the hottest car of the future.

It is emotive and stylish, and it stems from the drawing board of the famous Swiss designers, Rinspeed. Using Bayer MaterialScience's Smart Surface technology, electronics specialist Lumitec has added another dimension, namely sensitivity, to what is already a highly unusual car. The result is a vehicle which “senses” the driver. Bring on the Rinspeed Senso! Automobile pioneers like Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Henry Ford would be absolutely speechless if they could attend the world premiere of the revolutionary Rinspeed Senso at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Barely 100 years after Ford's legendary Model T (and several thousand years after the invention of the wheel), the vehicles of the next generation will, thanks to Bayer MaterialScience's Smart Surface technology, actually be able to influence our senses. A special moldable, electroluminescent 3D film developed by Bayer MaterialScience and the electronics specialists, Lumitec, has been used in the Rinspeed Senso to create interior lighting effects that adapt to the mood and condition of the driver on the basis of biometric data. Developed by the famous Swiss prototype manufacturer, Rinspeed, this car can, for example, emit relaxing light to reduce the driver's stress in a traffic jam or stimulate the fatigued long-distance driver by emitting stimulating color patterns into his line of vision.
So does intelligent on-board high-tech also contribute to greater safety in road traffic? "Definitely," says Johannes Seesing from the Industry Innovation Transportation department and a member of the AutoCreative team at Bayer MaterialScience. "In recent years, pedestrian protection has been optimized with flexible, energy-absorbing plastics in the body sections. Now, as part of our cooperation agreement with Rinspeed that runs until 2007, we have set out to produce a car that focuses on the driver as the weakest link in the safety chain." The revolutionary new sensorial effects in the Rinspeed Senso (whose development also involved scientists from the universities of Zurich and Innsbruck) do just that. Seesing is certain that the risk of accidents can be reduced with the light effects generated by Smart Surface technology. In addition, the recyclable plastic chassis of this unique vehicle has helped turn it into a real featherweight. And that not only saves fuel, it also conserves ecological resources.
Although this futuristic time machine will probably never make it onto the production line, the Rinspeed Senso demonstrates what innovative safety and design features are nowadays possible in the automotive industry with modern polymer products such as Desmodur®/Desmophen®, Bayhydur®/Bayhydrol® and Makrolon®, Makrofol®, Bayfol® or Bayblend® from Bayer MaterialScience. "We naturally also want the car to provoke discussion and we hope the manufacturers will soon see the light," added Seesing. The inventor company has already identified this sensitivity in vehicle technology as a future trend in the industry.