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Mercedes has made sure to play up its tech chops during the past few CES events and this year is no different. But instead of a straight autonomous electric vehicle, they’ve gone a little wacky with the vehicle that’s based on the Avatar movie. Yeah, the James Cameron film
The Mercedes-Benz AVTR (advance vision transportation) is inspired by Avatar. Even the name is a nod towards the movie. The show car is an EV and can drive forwards and sideways. The vehicles is a rolling light show with displays that spread out beyond the dash. The vehicle has clear doors and to get the driver closer to nature.
The vehicle uses biometrics sensors to better bond with the driver. There’s no steering wheel. You just become one with the car. Sort of creepy. But it’s a concept car so it’s unlikely your next S Class will want to merge with you so you can drive to work.
Interacting with the car’s infotainment system is also different from anything else. While driving, the driver lifts their hand and the interface appears on their body. The interface then follows your hand as you’re making selections. The vehicle also has a bunch of gesture controls that are supposed to be more natural and don’t require the driver to learn new hand signals.
One of the weirdest looking “features” is the on the rear hatch that has these 33 circular hatches that open and close. There communicate with the driver and outside world. More likely it’s just a fun thing to add to a concept car.
During the event, Mercedes spoke at length about the car is almost a living thing and an extension of a person and nature. It’s really a lot of hyperbole, but it doesn’t take away from the design which is completely bonkers but also stunning.
The head of Mercedes-Benz, Ola Källenius also spoke at length about the automaker’s plan to create a zero-impact car. “This may be in the distance but it’s our goal nonetheless,” he said. It’s that goal that got James Cameron on board.
Director James Cameron appeared on stage and said that a car wasn’t obvious when first pitched to him. But after talking to Källenius about the company’s vision for sustainability, he was all for it. “It was a total life-cycle assessment,” Cameron said. He added that he’s now all about sustainability.
“When I look at this car here, I see a beautiful car,” Cameron said. “I see the physical manifestation of an idea.”
“We got to make the beautiful machine a sustainable beautiful machine,” Källenius said.
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