The futuristic new Mercedes-Benz concept can drive diagonally and has no steering wheel
Avatar 2 is in production, and set to debut in time for the holidays in 2022 – but that’s not the best bit of Avatar news today; Mercedes-Benz has just shown off its sci-fi themed motor driving on actual roads.
The Vision AVTR concept was unveiled earlier this year, and promised to allow the user to drive via touch console, be able to move diagonally, and generally look awesome.
At the time, both technology aficionados and gearheads thought that while pretty, Mercedes-Benz would never be able to get one operational. Well, it seems that they just did.
The German automaker just released footage of the car driving on actual roads. The working prototype is shown off in a 13-minute video, and highlights the “symbiotic organism” concept Mercedes-Benz was going for.
It’s a playful take on how James Cameron’s Na’vi characters in Avatar bond with animal life on their homeplanet. Instead of forming a neural connection with the driver however, the Vision AVTR driver controls the car via touch-friendly console.
“Instead of a conventional steering wheel, the multifunctional control element in the center console allows human and machine to merge,” Mercedes said in a press release.
“By placing the hand on the control unit, the interior comes to life and the vehicle recognizes the driver by his or her heartbeat and breathing.”
The car also comes with ‘bionic flaps’ which pulsate depending on when the car accelerates or brakes. The car is also fully-electric, and powered by “a revolutionary battery technology based on graphene-based organic cell chemistry that is completely clean of rare earths and metals.”
Regardless of what you thought of James Cameron’s space epic, there’s no doubt that the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR is seriously futuristic.
