Rinspeed previews its autonomous concept car

Frank Rinderknecht and his team at Rinspeed come to the Geneva Motor Show every year with another fantastical concept car, and 2015 will be no exception. The Swiss design and engineering firm made it clear that it sees autonomous vehicles are the future of driving and, despite the fact that the show is still several months away, has given us a glimpse of the concept car that it’ll be showing off next year.

“Until now, what we have primarily associated with auto mobility was freedom and individuality. And – consciously or unconsciously – we are prepared to pay a high price in many regards for these privileges. We need only look at the accident statistics,” Rinspeed founder Frank Rinderknecht says, as quoted by CarScoops.

Rinspeed’s latest project car is known as the Budii, and the automaker intends for it to “redefine the relationship between man and machine.” Unsurprisingly, this refers to driverless technology. While details are still limited, Rinspeed imagines the autonomous vehicle as an owner’s best friend, one that learns from its owner and environment so that it can adapt to better service the person who’s driving it.

“Autonomous driving undoubtedly offers the opportunity to drastically diminish some of the drawbacks of private transport; for example, the number of traffic accidents could drop worldwide,” Rinderknecht said in a statement, as quoted by Motor Authority.

Rinderknecht believes that autonomous vehicles could drastically reduce the number of traffic accidents across the globe. Still, that’s not exactly going to happen overnight, as self-driving vehicles will have to learn every day and “as a result will get better and better at mastering the complex challenges of modern-day private transport.”

“The transition from traditional to autonomous driving will take place in stages; consequently, man and machine will still have a few years left to get used to this new form of mobility and the different interplay between people and technology it will entail, time they both will need,” he continued, as quoted by Gizmag.