Chinese car maker granted patent for voice activated in-vehicle TOILETS
Thomas Crapper move over - there's a new loo patent in town. And it's going places, quite literally.
In a bizarre piece of automotive engineering -and one that could easily be taken as an April Fools - a Chinese car maker has been granted a patent to install voice activated 'in-vehicle toilets' in its EVs.
Seres, a Chinese electric SUV brand, has invented a waste disposal unit that slides under the passenger seat so that passengers can go to the lavatory on the move.
With UK car buyers already endeared by some of the state-of-the-art tech offered by Chinese newcomers - including cabin fridges to parcel shelves that transform into cinema screens - this revolutionary gadget might be too much of a push for reserved Britons.
While the technology has been patented, Seres - which mainly sells cars in mainland China but has also expanded into Europe, the Middle East and Africa - hasn't confirmed if any of its cars will have toilets fitted as standard.
Is it a pipedream or will we see a flush of them in EVs soon?
This 'in-vehicle toilet' design has been patented by Chinese electric SUV maker Seres. It would allow people to go to the loo in a vehicle while on the move
According to a filing on the China National Intellectual Property Administration, Seres' in-vehicle toilet slides from under the passenger seat and can either be accessed with a push or a voice command.
Waste is collected in a tank that has to be emptied manually, similar to that of a caravan or motorhome loo.
The in-vehicle toilet also has a rotating heating element so urine and other waste can be dried and evaporated, the company states.
When bladders aren't bursting and access to the toilet is not needed, the toilet is concealed beneath the passenger seat, taking up none of the space needed for legroom.
If you're wondering about 'fumes', the loo will come with a fan and exhaust pipe to channel odours out of the car, according to the patent.
No need for Febreze inside the car then, but you might want to turn your air conditioning off it you're down wind of a Seres car on the motorway.
The in-vehicle toilet slides out from the bottom of a passenger seat and can either be accessed with a push or through voice commands, the designs show
Seres mainly sells cars in mainland China but has expanded to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It hasn't confirmed if any cars will come with the interesting waste disposal feature
Share this article
It wouldn't be the first in-vehicle toilet...
Anyone with caravans, campers or have endured long-haul coach trips will be used to the idea of having access to such amenities on the move.
However, loos in smaller passenger vehicles are very rare - and for good reason.
One known example of a toilet in a car is in a one-off 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith that recently changed hands at auction.
This one-off 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith was specially commissioned by an American inventor to have a number of unique features to allow him to broker deals on the move uninterrupted
The gold-plated toilet concealed under the rear bench seat cushion - quite revoltingly - doubled as a champagne cooler. The car was sold at auction last year for £110k
The car was commissioned by American inventor Joseph J Mascuch who wanted to be able to broker deals on the move uninterrupted in the fifties.
This includes making calls from the car's inbuilt telephone and the ability to relieve himself without having to pull over.
In a quite revolting turn of events, the gold-plated toilet concealed under the rear bench seat cushion doubled as a champagne cooler. Let's hope it was thoroughly cleaned after use...
The car was sold at an RM Sotheby's event in Milan last year for €126,500 (around £110,000).
There too are a number of online blogs dedicated to creating your own DIY loo-passenger seat conversion.
One website, SUVRVing.com, gives you a step-by-step guide on how to 'add a toilet to a Subaru Forester for SUV camping'.
This method isn't patented, though.
