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Swiss coachbuilding firm Rinspeed is not known for its restraint, and with the Oasis show car due at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2017, it's going the whole wacky hog with the on-board technology.
Company chief Frank M. Rinderknecht believes big SUVs are not the ideal urban machines, so he has made the self-driving, electric Oasis a two-seater only. But then we have an interior which is described as a 'living space', complete with an armchair, sideboard (!), TV and a multifunction steering wheel. The windscreen can display virtual as well as augmented reality, while Rinderknecht wants people to take the name 'Oasis' literally by growing flowers or (we kid you not) radishes in the small green space built in under the windscreen. Seriously.
Even better, Rinspeed reckons with its large glazed areas and front wheel spats - plus the fact it can turn on its axis with an almost zero radius - that the Oasis is 'kind of like a trendy buddy of Star Wars icon R2D2'. The Swiss company also says the Oasis isn't like the Google cars, which it dismisses as 'a grey mouse' and designed for 'a single purpose'. Which neatly leads us onto the final point...
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So, who is going to use the Rinspeed Oasis? Well, apparently it can function as a commuting or shopping car in the morning, be used as a 'micro-delivery vehicle' for urban parcel services in the afternoon, before - hold on to your hats, here - becoming a 'pizza taxi' in the evening. That's because the Oasis has a code-protected 'drawer' in the rear, which can be cooled or heated according to its cargo. Madness, then, but strangely likeable madness nonetheless and you can see it at CES at the start of next year.