Bose...Suspension?
 

http://qualitysound.bose.com/pg/lear..._challenge.jsp

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/0410_bose/

Video

Yeah, I remember reading about it in a recent MT mag. Its very cool, and will be seen in an upcoming Caddy, probably there flag ship sedan before the end of the decade.
The shocks can generate so much power, that it can literaly shoot the tire up in the air, and avoid an obsticle in the road.

Interesting... although I'd take a electro/hydralic or electro/pneumatic version over pure electronic. On the previous FSAE cars we've looked into pure electronic and the power needed was enough to "turn off" an engine. Our shifter was electro/pneumatic, very nice device. I'd like to see the specs on the power requirements and overall weight comparison. They say "extra alternator and battery" which means big wattage, lol.

Yeah, they said a big problem was having enough power, but they can apparently regenerate it when the shock recoils. They said they could get back about 80% of the power they used. Its pretty cool.

kool

Wasn't this technology.... or something VERY similar used on the 50th ann C5's?

That's cool that they can get some of the energy back. I can only imagine the expence of the electronics let alone the solinoids/struts.

The C5's use an oil that changes depending on electrical charge. Nothing really new but definatly cool to implement.

Yeah, the Corvette, as well as the XLR, STS and SRX uses a fluid that has a lot of iron particles, and depending on magnetic force, the fluid can change its viscosity. Its pretty cool to see an example of it, but this technology would make thoes systems obsolete.

I don't think the electro-rheological fluids will become obsolete... ever. Infact I think they're the next standard in shock absorbtion for mass produced vehicles. Even Bose said that they don't expect this technology to be on anything but the most expensive cars and even then as an option. Maybe with time the price will come down but when you have oil and iron with a high voltage converter cost compared to a bose SUSPENSION system it's highly unlikely bose will be doing any "denting" in the industry for quite some time. I wonder if cars will still be burning fossil fuels when bose finally makes it into production vehicles, lol. "Beam me up scotty!"