Automotive

Mercedes-Benz BIOME Concept – could cars be grown in a lab?

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Front view of the Mercedes-Benz BIOME
BIOME is designed to change how you think cars can be manufactured
An amazing concept vehicle
Changing how cars are made
Front view of the Mercedes-Benz BIOME
Interior and wheels
BIOME - is this how cars will be produced in the future?
The BIOME natural or super-natural?
BIOME a biodegradable car
Mind bending technology
Artists impression of a BioFibre vehicle
Artists impression of a range of BIOME vehicles
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Get ready to have your concept of how a car is manufactured flipped upside-down and turned inside-out. Picture a production process that has plenty in common with agar jelly (used to culture organic materials in laboratories) and little in common with what we would normally think of as production-line automotive manufacturing. You are starting to get close to what the people at Mercedes-Benz have spawned with the BIOME – one of the most outlandish and ambitious concepts in this year's Los Angeles Design Challenge.

In short, the BIOME would be grown in a lab rather than built on a production line.

"As the inventor of the motor car, we wanted to illustrate the vision of the perfect vehicle of the future, which is created and functions in complete symbiosis with nature. The Mercedes-Benz BIOME is a natural technology hybrid, and forms part of our earth's ecosystem. It grows and thrives like the leaves on a tree" Hubert Lee, head of the Mercedes-Benz advanced design studios said.

This vision includes growing a material called BioFibre which would be lighter than metal or plastic, yet stronger than steel. The resulting car would weighs in at 875.5 lbs (around 394 kg). The entire vehicle would also be completely biodegradable.

BIOME is designed to change how you think cars can be manufactured

“The interior of the BIOME grows from the DNA in the Mercedes star on the front of the vehicle, while the exterior grows from the star on the rear. To accommodate specific customer requirements, the Mercedes star is genetically engineered in each case, and the vehicle grows when the genetic code is combined with the seed capsule. The wheels are grown from four separate seeds,” Mercedes-Benz explained.

Once on the road the vehicle would run on "BioNectar4534" stored in the car's BioFibre, of which the only by-product is oxygen.

Wildly ambitious? Yes. Completely implausible? Maybe. But the whole point of the Design Challenge is to think outside the square ... the BIOME certainly does that.

A full-scale mock-up was on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

View gallery - 12 images
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21 comments
Drew__1
Maybe they could put forward some information on how they\'re going to grow a rolling bearing.

Or take less drugs...

Either or.
Facebook User
grown from seeds?!?!?!?!, give me what ever your taking
Facebook User
Oh my gosh.... this is just amazing! This is one big steps towards technology. Future cars may follow these designs. It is amazing, this car actually runs on oxygen?? If they go to the next step with this car, it may be actually hover!!!! This can be the beginning of the future! Best of luck with your designs. Hope the next design of this car flies!
Adam Zer
Luigi Colani did it.. hm.. 40 years ago, can someone please do something new in automotive design !
4Freedom
This is a pretty wild concept. Using the same technology, they might be able to \"generate\" buildings or whole cities. It would make creating a base on the moon or another planet easier.
Lost
I, too, can come up with absurdly improbable science fiction ideas for a utopian future. Hey Mercedes, looking for more \"visionaries\"?
Terotech
I may be getting on in years, but I\'m sure it isn\'t April 1st yet........is it? Ian Colley.
Joe Sobotka
Um ya,, pay me 60-80K a year and I can come up with great ideas that will never become a reality too!!!
Matfink
It\'s the cabbage patch car of the future!
waltinseattle
Skip ahead with me to a few months after this hits market, if you will: \"news flash, MB recalls Biome car, owners claim the car is growing on them- literally!\" Hey, cars gotta \"thrive\" too!

Bio-Fibre? sounds like cotton, hemp silk...Bio-nectar (which might be the secret ingredient in their \"visionary\" workings...sounds sweet. But I place money on this. That they are bith simply variants of \"unobtanium.\"