Open champ returns the claret jug in style

The claret jug, or to use its proper name, the Golf Champion Trophy, is kept by the Open winner for the year that they reign as champion – unlike other famous sporting trophies such as the Ashes urn and the Wimbledon tennis championship trophies, which stay in-situ at Lord’s and the All England club respectively.

Indeed, last year’s Open winner, Henrik Stenson, even posted photos to social media of him water-skiing with the trophy during his tenure as champion.

Stenson has since returned the trophy to the The Royal and Ancient (R&A), golf’s governing body, in what is a symbolic ceremony that officially marks the end of the Swede’s year as champion.

Despite being nearly 150 years old, the famous old claret jug was returned to the R&A this year in a rather modern way. With the trophy tucked safely under his arm, Stenson arrived at Royal Birkdale earlier this week in the back of a Mercedes-Benz F 015, a futuristic, driverless supercar.

The F 015 Luxury in Motion had its world premiere at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) back in January. With this self-driving luxury sedan Mercedes-Benz hopes to illustrate how the car is growing beyond its role as a mere means of transport and will ultimately become a private retreating space.

“Anyone who focuses solely on the technology has not yet grasped how autonomous driving will change our society. The car is growing beyond its role as a mere means of transport and will ultimately become a mobile living space,” explained Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

The F 015 has a seamless, monolithic exterior and has large LED light modules at the front and rear. A range of different lighting functions can be provided through these LED fields. At the same time, the vehicle communicates and interacts with the outside world by means of the LED fields. These LED fields show for example, if the F 015 is driving autonomously (blue) or is controlled manually (white).

The F 015 Luxury in Motion’s unusually large wheelbase of 3,610mm in combination with its short overhangs, clearly show that the design focus was on providing the maximum possible space for the passengers.

The pivotal feature of the interior concept is the variable seating system, with four rotating lounge chairs that allow a face-to-face seat configuration. In order to make getting in and out of the car easier, the electrically powered seats also swing outwards by 30 degrees as soon as the doors are opened. If necessary, the driver and front seat passenger can also turn their eyes and attention towards the front – a prerequisite for manual driving. To this end the steering wheel extends automatically from the dashboard.

One key aspect of the research vehicle is the continuous exchange of information between vehicle, passengers and the outside world. This is facilitated by six display screens integrated into the instrument panel and the rear and side panels, which turn the interior of the F 015 Luxury in Motion into a digital arena. Passengers can interact with the connected vehicle through gestures, eye tracking or by touching the high resolution screens. Sensors recognise the passengers’ hands and offers them user interfaces that present appropriate operating options for each particular situation. Particle streams on the displays visualise the vehicle’s movement.