[Swath Design - Concept Car] Preliminary Research and Documentation

General Requirements

The following are the general requirements of the concept car. Contributors can add more features and components as the project takes shape:

• Seating capacity  - The vehicle must have seating space for 6 passengers including the driver/pilot.
• Luggage/Storage/Boot space  - The vehicle must have a minimum boot space of 2000 liters with a separate door.
• Retractable paddles  - A pair of paddles docked into the chassis for emergencies.
• Life vests, floats  - 6 life vests and floats for emergencies.
• Flares  - A flares chamber in the rear that can launch flares without a flare gun. This is optional.
• Docking/Parking station  - A docking mechanism that uses anti-theft and anti-drift systems.
• Air conditioning  - The concept must have a built in air conditioning unit. All passengers must have their own AC control.
• Anti-theft theft - The vehicle must have secure access as in normal cars.  
• Remote lock  - The vehicle must have a remote lock/unlock mechanism as in normal cars.
• Remote shutdown  - The vehicle must have a remote shut down mechanism with a GPS tracker. If a theft occurs, the owner can remotely shut down the engine, AC and drop anchor.
• Anti-drift  - The vehicle must have a retractable steel cable with a lock for securing it at a seapod or a pier.
• SONAR  - SONAR unit to ping other boats, cars, ships and rocks.
• Cameras  - The vehicle must have front and rear cameras. One camera is installed inside the cabin for video calls and conferences.
• Custom navigation software  - The vehicle is is  software-controlled.   Most of navigation, logging is done on the software. The controls can be accessed from a tab that has the software installed.

Detailed chassis and swath design information is available here.

 

Exteriors

• Roof  - The vehicle's roof must be designed to allow passengers to board or de-board the vehicle even when it is raining.
• Head lamps  - A set of head lamps in the front to illuminate the surface of the water for 20 feet.
• Tail lamps  - A set of tail lamps at the rear to indicate braking and night lights.
• Belly lamps  - Optional lamps near the camera on the underside of the craft to illuminate the water under the craft.
• Swath lamps  - A row of LED lights are installed along outer side of the swaths. This is to provide illumination when boarding, de-boarding and docking the vehicle.
• Indicator lamps  - A set of indicator lamps in the front, rear and sides.
• Fenders  - Bumpers around the car to absorb the impact of accidentally bumping into rocks, other boats, or against a jetty or a pier.
• Cameras  - 3 cameras are installed on the exterior, 1 in the front, 1 in the back and 1 on the underbelly of the vehicle. The live feed can be viewed on the HUD inside the cabin.  

 

Interiors

• Retractable control wheel -  A retractable control wheel is installed to navigate the vehicle manually. When in manual mode, it is raised at the driver's seat. When in auto-pilot mode, the control wheel retracts into the deck.  
• Head up display (HUD)  - The HUD gives the passengers the following information:
  • Speed (MPH, KMPH, Nautical miles per hour)
  • RPM
  • Battery voltage
  • Fuel indicator
  • Map of the sea floor
  • Option to enter destination destination 
  • Current GPS position
  • Bluetooth connectivity for cell phones
  • Radio channel selector
  • Other (TBD)
• AC vents  - AC vents are installed along the perimeter of the cabin to ensure that the cabin is ventilated for all passengers. The air flow from the AC vents can be controlled by each passenger.
• Seats  - High-end leather seats are installed in the cabin. Each seat comes with the following features. These features are controlled by a push button panel or a touch screen display installed in the arm rest.
  • Height adjustment - to adjust the height of the seat.
  • Seat rails - standard seat rails to adjust leg room.
  • Adjustable back rests  rests  
  • Seat rotation  - Each seat can turn 180^o. The driver's seat cannot rotate when the vehicle is in manual driving /sailing mode. This feature for the driver/pilot is available only when the vehicle is in auto-pilot mode.  

Figure 1 - Schematic diagram of seat arrangement and rotatability.  

• Center table  - A collapsible center table is installed on the floor of the cabin. It can be raised using a button on the cabin deck. The center table can be raised only no seats are obstructing the table movement.
• Glove compartment  - The glove compartment is modular and has separate units for each of the following:
  • Papers and documents
  • Charging station for cell phones
  • Mini refrigerator/icebox
  • A gun and ammunition compartment with a security locking system (number pad/finger print).
• Navigation tab  - This is an alterative to the control wheel. When in manual mode, users can navigate the vehicle using a tab which has the Aqueria software installed.

 

Images