Travelling while drinking coffee, having a meeting or playing a game calls for a different kind of vehicle interior. The compact PIX RoboBus shows how far that idea can go. There is no conventional cockpit, leaving almost the entire cabin available for people and their activities.
Chinese manufacturer PIX Moving builds this electric minibus around a modular platform. The same thinking extends to mobile shops and cafés: first a rolling platform, then a space suited to its purpose. The video shows the rounded vehicles driving among ordinary traffic.
The technology moves into the floor
In a conventional car, the steering wheel, pedals and driver’s seat largely determine the layout. PIX starts with what is known as a skateboard chassis: a low platform containing the drive system and electronically controlled vehicle functions. The cabin sits on top. A different use therefore does not necessarily require an entirely new vehicle design.
Cameras and other sensors provide information about the surroundings. Software then decides how the vehicle should move, while electronic controls execute the steering, braking and propulsion commands. That combination makes the RoboBus more than an electric body with comfortable seats.
Six seats in 3.8 metres
The RoboBus is about 3.8 metres long. PIX offers it as a six-seat minibus. The company also has ideas for other layouts on the same chassis, from a workspace with a table to a mobile café with a coffee counter.
In the Chinese city of Guiyang, visitors can already take a RoboBus on a tour of the city centre. On one trip described in an account shared by PIX, a safety attendant rode along, as local rules required.
