How often do we find ourselves longing for a bright sunny morning when in reality it’s a murky day filled with dark clouds but no sign of rain? I do quite often, and the weather has some bearing on how productive my workday is going to be. That’s why this Citroën concept got me excited with its weather-changing idea.
Yes, an autonomous pod car that creates the kind of weather on the inside to your liking. Christened the Citroën La météo (Weather Project) the focus of the designers is on encapsulating the two riders in the ambient weather they’d prefer on any given day, even though the weather on the outside is completely opposite. The inside cabin of this compact pod-like four-wheeler creates the visual and sensory atmosphere to trick you into a completely different realm. So, you could be driving to your destination in the chilly winter of London while feeling and seeing the warmth of the spring New York sun on the inside!
Designers: JunHo Min, Chang Yong Jung, Elena Bang and YoungSun KIM
This cute-looking Citroën makes this possible with interchangeable capsules which diffuse the right aroma to match the realistic weather displayed on the 360-degree panoramic windows of the car covered in three layers of the advanced display screen. It can be toggled seamlessly via a connected app which also gives the option to buy custom weather conditions of popular destinations other than the default profiles with a more general weather pattern.
Depending on the rider’s preference, the electric vehicle can go completely autonomous wherein the steering wheel sets into rest mode as the secondary telemetry display moves forward. For manual driving, the rig moves back and the steering wheel takes precedence. The passenger seat and the driver seat have a clear distinction – separated by an asymmetric structure transparently diving the sections. Also, there’s a transparent cabinet inside the seat back and the storage box with a strap houses a Citroën branded umbrella.
This mindful vehicle crafted keeping in mind what the riders would actually love to have, given the option is there to toggle their sensory experience, is inspired by the classic Citroën 2cv 1948 which was known as a four-wheeler under an umbrella, and so is this concept too!
