‘Seat Of The Future’: Land Rover Tackles Posture & Fitness

Jaguar Land Rover has revealed a shape-shifting ‘seat of the future’ design that manipulates your brain into thinking you’re walking while driving – dubbed the Morphable Seat.

Hips don’t lie, but cars can – the new technology, developed by Jaguar’s researchers, involves vibrations within the seat that convince your brain you’re on a relaxing stroll, intended on reducing the harmful impacts on your posture during long-journey drives.

Small actuators planted beneath the seats soft cushioning gently rock your hips throughout your drive, with the company claiming the movements could eventually be personalised to the driver.

‘The wellbeing of our customers and employees is at the heart of all our technological research projects,’ said Dr Steve Iley, Jaguar Land Rover chief medical officer.

‘We are using our engineering expertise to develop the seat of the future using innovative technologies not seen before in the automotive industry to help tackle an issue that affects people across the globe.’

But the Morphable Seat is just a concept design for now – and won’t be featured in any production cars soon.

However, it does address a serious health issue: sedentary lifestyles. According to the World Health Organisation, sedentary lifestyles are contributing to a ‘global pandemic’ of diseases – including chronic respiratory illness, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.

The seat doesn’t claim to mitigate those serious health conditions, but the constant reminder may prompt owners to remember to be more active.

Jaguar Land Rover has also released an explanatory video, instructing car owners on the best seat positioning in regular cars to improve your posture.