Lexus has built a car that pulsates with light in time with the driver’s heartbeat in order to display the connection between the driver and the car.
Using electro-luminescent paint, Lexus have converted an RC F coupe into a on-off model they are calling the ‘heartbeat car’.
Unfortunately for petrol heads, the special project is a one-time collaboration, and won’t go on general sale.
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The model uses biometric technology to visualise the physical and emotional connection shared by man and machine when at the wheel.
The aim of the project, a collaboration between the creative technology division of M&C Saatchi Australia, Tricky Jigsaw, and Lexus Australia, was to connect the human body to the car.
‘We’re changing the conversation from top speeds, to talking about what the car does to you emotionally,’ Ben Cooper, innovation director at M&C Saatchi, told Mashable Australia.
The build, which took six months, was started at a closed-off track in in southern New South Wales, but the first step was for the team to find out how driving affects our heart rate.
Video: Lexus unveil the world’s first ever car with a heartbeat
‘We saw firsthand that when you sat in the passenger seat with a professional driver taking you around the track, your heart goes through the roof when he takes that corner,’ Cooper said.
‘From there, we looked at how we were going to take the heartbeat and express it throughout the car.’
A wireless heartbeat monitor sends the driver’s heartbeat to a control board in the rear of the car.
A custom-built Arduino micro-controller takes the electrical pulse from the driver’s heart, and uses it to trigger the electro-luminescent paint to display the heartbeat in a pulsating pattern on the car’s side panels.
The electro-luminescent paint contains phosphorescent substances that emit light, and is made by the U.S.-based company, Lumilor.
When the car is parked in the day time and the system is shut down, the car has a standard silver finish, with its secret heart pulsing potential hidden from sight.
The system is powered by a 13V battery which can recharge itself when the engine is on.
Cooper is excited by the technology, as it could be used in future to show a multitude of different inputs.
For example, it could be programmed to glow along one side when turning, or light up in a special sequence when accelerating.
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