If you gotta go while on-the-go, urine in luck.
Having to pee or poop during long road trips is, now, no longer a pain in the butt as Chinese electric vehicle engineers are gearing up to roll out a fleet of cars featuring built-in toilets.
They’re putting a little restroom in your vroom-vroom.
Seres, an automotive manufacturer specializing in high-end electric vehicles (NEVs) and intelligent technology, has been granted a patent for an “in-vehicle toilet” that slides under a passenger’s seat for mid-trip use.
The feature is meant to “satisfy users’ toilet needs on long journeys, while camping or while staying in the car,” per the patent Seres filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration this week, according to BBC.
And, as if the ability to relieve yourself while on the run isn’t cool enough, the carmakers reportedly plan to equip the potty to appear with either the push of a button or through voice-activated commands.
When nature calls, this technology will answer, literally.
To limit odors, the in-car-commode will come with a fan and an exhaust pipe, implemented to funnel funky smells out of the automobile, per the patent paperwork. Waste will be collected in a tank that has to be emptied manually.
The toilet-to-go will also boast a rotating heating element that evaporates urine and dries excrement.
When not in use, the can will be concealed beneath the passenger seat, making full use of the space inside a car without requiring excess room.
Seres, based in Chongqing, has not announced an official release of vehicles with the onboard bathroom. It’s unclear if cars boasting the luxe lavatories will ever, actually, hit the Chinese electric vehicles market.
It’s a booming industry with innovators clamoring to pump out the trendiest, most futuristic frills, including everything from the ability to fly down NYC roadways at over 200 MPH to literally flying in the sky.
In-vehicle toilets, however, are much more rare — but not totally unprecedented.
A 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Limousine, featuring a passenger seat pot, hit Sotheby’s for a just under $150,000.
The brainchild of inventor Joseph J Mascuch, from New Jersey, travelers in his ritzy ride could “broker deals from the inbuilt telephone before retrieving a bottle from the gold-plated toilet-cum-champagne cooler under the seat cushion.”
Now that’s taking a leak in luxury.
