Mercedes-Benz teamed up with the "Avatar" movie franchise to create a concept car. The Vision AVTR is a unique concept car that looks to the distant future and you can't have it—it's unobtanium.
Introduced Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Vision AVTR (short for Advanced Vehicle Transformation) explores a new relationship between human, machine, and nature, and depicts a future where cars are symbiotic with their surroundings.
The car interfaces with the driver through a biometric connection. The driver places a hand on the center console and the car recognizes him or her by heartbeat and breathing. The center console also acts as the control unit through which the driver operates the vehicles; there is no steering wheel. It can drive autonomously in Comfort mode or the driver or other passengers can take control.
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
The driver's palm has a menu of functions that can be selected with gestures. For example, they can view real-time 3D graphics of the fictional world of Pandora. A curved display acts as the dash. It provides a connection to the outside world for all passengers and offers multiple perspectives, including a bird's eye view. The interior has no buttons.
Sustainable materials are used throughout the cabin, such as Dinamica, a synthetic leather, for the upholstery and rattan wood on the floor. The car's haptic seats can monitor breathing and adjust the interior based on the emotional state and stress of the driver and other passengers. Haptic feedback also alerts occupants to objects outside the car. A "Magic Pool" infotainment system is integrated into the back of the front seats. It includes games and augmented reality designed for children.
The design consists of one flowing line that snakes from the exterior through the interior and back out. The body has 33 scale-like "bionic flaps" that can be used to communicate to the outside world via flowing movements. They also act as solar plates to provide the energy needed for sensors, computer chips, and other components, and they can adjust their orientation to aid vehicle maneuvers. Nature is brought inside through transparent doors that open upward. The center console was inspired by the "Tree of Souls," the most sacred place for the Na'vi people in "Avatar," and it extends through the A-pillars to the roof.
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept
The Vision AVTR is an electric vehicle and Mercedes imagines a battery with graphene-based organic cell chemistry and no rare-earth metals. Mercedes says that the battery is compostable, recyclable, and completely free of fossil fuels. Likewise, the whole car would have zero impact on the planet. Mercedes says the battery would also charge quickly, in just 15 minutes, through conductive charging. With a capacity of about 110 kwh, Mercedes says it would give the car a range of more than 435 miles.
The car features four electric motors mounted near the wheels with a total output of 469 horsepower. Each wheel can be driven individually, and the front and rear axles can be driven in the same or opposite directions. That gives the car the ability to "crab walk" diagonally at an up to 30-degree angle.
Mercedes will certainly not build the Vision AVTR, but its user experience, design, and battery concepts are signposts for a possible future in which cars interface with their occupants and have no negative effect on the planet.
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