... sort of.
A Chinese electric car maker BYD is including a special suspension feature in their supercar that allows it to jump over potholes and debris on the road ... including police road spikes and rainbow pedestrian crossings (presumably for the gay-averse). It is also doing this while self-driving at 120km/h, at least on the simple stright airstrip track in the video.
Chinese Supercars Can Jump Over Potholes On Awful Roads
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Competitive pricing, cutting-edge tech and the ability to
hop the debris cluttering our awful roads makes Chinese
supercar the Yangwang U9 pretty compelling.
Chinese automakers are leaving every other brand for dust
right now. They're dominating in terms of electric vehicle
capabilities, are catching up with legacy automakers in
sales and now are jumping ahead with the kind of tech
they're packing into their latest models. Nowhere is this
more true than in the Yangwang U9, which comes with special
suspension system that can hop over potholes and other
debris in the road.
The Yangwang U9 is the halo car from BYD, which is steadily
edging towards the crown of biggest electric vehicle maker
in the world right now. The car boasts a bonkers design,
sky-high price tag and the kind of tech and features that
are reserved for the super rich. Classic supercar stuff,
really.
The new flagship also boasts a feature that you might wish
more cars had, suspension that can hop over potholes so
they don't shake you to your very core.
The 1.68 million yuan ($230,00 USD) Yangwang U9 comes with
a clever system that BYD calls Disus X suspension, reports
CarScoops. That system has already been showcased through
weird dances performed by the car, but now its true purpose
has been revealed: avoiding obstacles in the road. As
CarScoops reports:
A new video released by the Chinese carmaker
showing what the suspension can do has been
released and its expanded skillset is equally
weird - simultaneously amazing and completely
pointless.
The 100-second promo places a 1,287-hp
(1,305 PS / 960 kW) quad-motor U9, complete
with its McLaren Senna-style rear spoiler, on
a test track, where it accelerates hard from
a standing start up to 120 km/h (75 mph)
before leaping over a water-filled crater in
the ground. The front wheels pop-up first to
help get the U9 airborne, then the rears
follow. Though the gap is only 8 ft (2.5 m),
text on the screen tells us the U9 actually
jumped 20 ft (6 m) in total.
Next up there's a 13-ft (4 m) stretch of
tire-shredding metal spikes, each measuring
1.4 inches (35 mm) tall, the kind of thing
James Bond used to throw out of his car to
send the bad guys spinning into the weeds. And
then there's a same-sized patch of four
brightly colored dust strips. The U9 clears
them both, and it does it all without a driver
onboard, relying purely on its autonomous tech.
Now, the skills shown off in the video don't mean that the U9
can pull off Dukes Of Hazard-style jumps across rivers or
anything like that. Instead, CarNewsChina reports that the
suspension system has been designed to navigate long, low
obstacles.
YouTube video (1min 41secs)
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW6lFowulFw>
The Disus X system of suspension and hydraulics also means that
the Yangwang U9 can drive on three wheels. So, if you don't
quite manage to jump all the nails you encounter on your route
to work and end up with a puncture on one tire, your U9 will
still complete the journey for you.
What's more, this isn't a video to show off what a future car
could potentially do, this is a real car that already exists
in the world. The U9 was unveiled early last year and
deliveries of the Chinese supercar began in August 2024. Now,
as BYD's cars roll out around the world in greater numbers,
we'll have to wait and see if the feature trickles down to
more attainable models or if jumping cars will be another
trick reserved for the super-rich.
<
https://jalopnik.com/chinese-supercars-can-jump-over-potholes-on-awful-roads-1851733881>
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