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Bose's Project Sound will blow your mind

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If you're anything like us here in the MOTOR office, this video will blow your mind.

As part of a recent feature with CNET, a video was revealed of an electromagnetic suspension system developed by US company BOSE, which is best known for headphone and high-end audio equipment.

Supposedly 24 years in the making, the system, fitted to a Lexus LS400, replaced that car's standard suspension with a MacPherson strut arrangement filled with magnets, motors and computer componentry.

Each wheel operates completely independently and gifts the car in question with astounding levels of body control. The system also has a unique party trick, but we won't spoil that here.

Unfortunately, while many manufacturers took note of BOSE's system, it ultimately proved too heavy and too costly to make it into volume production, however if Rolls-Royce were looking for a system for its new Phantom, we suggest this would be the place to start.

While the system itself hasn't been adopted, a less complex version can be found in everything from the HSV GTS to the Audi TT to the Ferrari California T in the form of magnetoheorological dampers, which operate under largely the same principles.

Scott Newman
Contributor

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