Philips and Renault develop a combination concept of smart car, smart home and LED lighting control

With vehicles and lights showing as two of the most common connected  "things" in the Internet of Things (IoT), Philips Lighting and Renault have cooperated to develop a combination concept car&smart home that regards a self-driving electric car as a stylish extra room that also serves as a lighting control center.



First, just to repeat for more clarification: The Renault Symbioz is a concept car+room+thing. Its not necessarily something that the two companies really want to market, although who knows for sure.

But it exists — its on flashing display at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show running through Sept. 24 — and as such, it proves the possibilities of combining automotive, smart lighting, and home design technologies.

Parked in the smart home, Symbioz doubles as a clean, mobile, comfortable, and modular extra room. Its inside was inspired by the design of living rooms. As an elegant open or closed environment, the car connects and interacts with all manner of devices and appliances in the home, making it a best space to work in or relax. Its operating system is shown interacting with and controlling the smart home lighting.

The smart lighting includes Philips Hue LED lights. As the car drives into the driveway, it communicates with Hue smart bulbs, switching them on in the living room and kitchen. It then enters the home — not into a conventional garage space but into an area where lighted walls automatically light up with Philips Luminous Surfaces, covering textiles installed with LED lightss (they are not OLEDs). The car sits on a platform that elevates it within a cylinder lit by 5368 Philips Color Kinetics iW Flex LED light points, which change their shade of white to show the cars connectivity status with the home. The Kinetics lights could, for example, use a particular shade of white to show that the car is charging.

Symbioz is truly a special project that allowed us to work with our planners, designers and engineers, academics and architects, startups, and sociologies to explore new areas in customer experience, technology, and energy use and design harmony to form a complete experience. The shared vision with Philips Lighting allows us, by lighting, to strengthen the link between the house and the car.