Bose, the makers of high-end audio equipment was the brainchild of an enterprising gentleman named Amar Bose who incorporated the Framingham, Massachusetts-based company in 1964. The man was not just an engineer who had a passion for sound but a professor at MIT who had a passion for innovation and excellence. It was this passion that lead to the success of his brand in the highly lucrative lifestyle audio space. But he didn’t stop at audio products, his passion for engineering led him to create one of the most advanced suspension systems in the world, which nearly four decades later, still feels like it came straight from the future.
Bose was fascinated by magnets and he realized that a heavy-duty version of the electromagnetic drivers used for speakers would be great for suspending up to 1,000 pounds and could, in theory, replace conventional suspension components like shock absorbers. From there on Bose assembled a ragtag team of engineers and innovators and they started working on this project covertly under the code name "project sound"
Work on this suspension started in the 1980s and after many prototypes and refinements, the final version of this technology was ready to be showcased to the world in 2007. Bose held an elaborate demonstration at their headquarters where members of the press and top officials from automotive companies were all invited to witness this revolutionary new suspension technology.
The demo started with no intimation and a Lexus LS that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and appeared to be driven by a lunatic behind the wheel as he negotiates a high-speed corner, heading straight towards a railroad tie. A big crash looked imminent but just before the car could hit the tie, it magically jumps over it, and to top it all off, after the driver gets out both the driver and the car take a bow in front of the audience.
Unlike a conventional suspension which uses a series of springs, shocks, and control arms to passively suspend the vehicle, Bose’s system uses modified MacPherson struts that house an intricate arrangement of magnets, motors, and controllers that Bose referred to as linear electromagnetic motors and power amplifiers. But it doesn’t end there. The system is also connected to a series of sensors that read the road imperfections and can prime all four corners of the vehicle individually, giving it the ability to push or pull individual wheels on demand.
As a result, this car can not only jump over obstacles, but it can stay level during braking and stays virtually flat even on high-speed corners without compromising on ride quality. Bose’s demonstration saw two LS400s, one riding on standard factory suspension and the other riding on the Bose suspension, and both vehicles went around the same set of obstacles to show how they drastically differed in managing the vehicle’s bulk.
Bose invited a whole host of auto manufacturers from Ferrari to Chevrolet to witness their innovative solution, but after careful evaluation by industry experts and engineers, this cutting edge suspension system was deemed too heavy and expensive for mainstream use and there were no takers for this tech. In addition, the market had evolved considerably since this system was conceptualized, and the Magnaride suspension introduced by Chevy in the early 2000s, though not nearly as advanced, was a significant step up from the mainstream suspension setups and more importantly was scalable for mass production. Then there were car companies like McLaren which introduced fully independent hydraulic suspension with the MP4-12C, which proved to be perfect for high-performance vehicles.
Bose was not ready to give up on the idea just yet and they adapted this technology to create the "Bose Ride" an advanced truck seat that suspends the driver seat on a platform powered by the same suspension technology that aims to reduce driver fatigue on long journeys. Luckily for Bose, the product has been somewhat of a sales success. In 2017, Bose sold this suspension tech to ClearMotion, a company that aims to make this more scalable and affordable. The company released the ActiValve, which is its software-centric "digital chassis" which according to the company is ready to hit the market. As of 2018, ClearMotion has raised nearly $115 million in funding and has tested this system extensively in a pair of BMW 5-series sedans, with their press material featuring a Model 3. So it’s only a matter of time before we get to see a new and improved version of this next-gen technology underpinning luxury vehicles from top brands in the near future, or so we hope.