Lexus’ latest concept car is a doozy, adapting its RC F coupe to reflect the driver’s heartbeat using electro-luminescent paint.
Lexus spent a day on a track with a bunch of drivers and hooked them up to sensors, monitoring their heart rate, breathing, skin, the whole lot.
From that they worked out how we react to loud throttles and loads of speed.
In the concept vehicle, a heart monitor sends the driver’s heartbeat to a control board, which portrays it along the car’s side.
The results are pretty cool.
“Why do we like to drive high-performance cars? Well, we think it’s physiological,” said Ben Cooper, director of innovation at M&C Saatchi, which along with Tricky Jigsaw helped out on the project.
“When we hear the growl of a big V8 engine our adrenaline levels rocket. It’s the same primal reaction that allowed our forebears to take on a sabre-tooth tiger, or take flight from it.”
The above image illustrates the track research that compiled the data and Cooper is optimistic of how the technology can be used in the future.
The control board, for example, could portray the direction a car is set to turn, its acceleration or its braking. Any of these three would be really, really cool.
At the moment, it’s just a concept. Hell, it could stay that way forever. But if we’re lucky this could become quite the toy – until someone plasters advertising all over it…
Main image via Shutterstock
