Mercedes-Benz’s Futuristic Avatar-Inspired Car

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a futuristic concept car called Vision AVTR designed after the 2009 James Cameron movie “Avatar” (Weiss, 2020). The car has an interesting aesthetic with scales and no doors. One extremely unique feature is that it does not have a steering wheel. Instead it would use biometric detection, which would enable users to place their hands on a control panel so that their hands become part of the steering. This allows them to lift their hand to pull up a menu of car functions. It can monitor their heart rate and breath as well to identify drivers. Another incredible feature is that it is able to move 30 degrees sideways, unlike traditional cars. Finally the car boasts completely recyclable graphene batteries, which are highly sustainable. While it is just a concept car, with no plans revealed on the car’s development or even if this type of car plans to be released to the general public down the line, I find it fascinating that companies are already envisioning how biometric detection could become incorporated to remove physical features that are currently staples of a car.

Source: 

https://mobileidworld.com/biometrics-news-mercedes-unveils-eco-friendly-avatar-themed-concept-car-010706/

4 thoughts on “Mercedes-Benz’s Futuristic Avatar-Inspired Car

  1. I do not see a general purpose for the AVTR vehicle in a typical community setting. While I am extremely impressed by the different sustainability features on the vehicle, the futuristic look and design takes away the simplistic look Mercedes vehicles often provide.

    In the YouTube video linked below, the host details that the battery can be fully charged in 15 minutes and has a completely compostable battery (Roadshow 2020). This is an incredible charging time compared to the Tesla S Model, which requires at least 75 minutes to charge to 100 percent (Wikipedia 2019). This feature alone, helps the case of making the AVTR product for ordinary people living in the suburbs.

    Something that I am very interested in seeing will be the statistics from first year sales and number of accidents reported. The AVTR has no steering wheel in sight, while typical self-driving cars still provide this feature. Is the technology that trustworthy? I guess we will have to wait and find out.

    Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_KgtIuaEo
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Supercharger

  2. Mercedes-Benz’s concept car brought us a brand new vision of technology interacting with people. Talking about the cool features about how the car will be built by sustainable and common materials and be able to sidle sideways 30 degrees, meanwhile its most significant feature is the operating menu that even replaces steering wheel. It is certainly fascinating if Mercedes-Benz manages to create a biometric system because we have been using the steering wheel for driving since 1894. How the biometric console work will also affect other various products on the market, such as computers, furniture, or other types of vehicles. For example, we have a lot of furniture that can be operated through mobile apps. If the company manages the method of operating through sensing the body movement to a higher level like the biometric console, it will change the world of technology.

  3. Mercedes Benz is an amazing company. This futuristic concept is going to push other companies to follow. This car has a feature in it that allows the car to project the menu selection on the passenger’s hand. It’s amazing how the car industry is changing. However, all this stuff sounds amazing but what about when it comes across problems? We have seen first hand with Tesla cars and how they’ve proven to be defective in some areas. Tesla’s have caught on fire and the self driving function has had it’s problems too. It all sounds fascinating with the Avatar concept car, but there could be a lot of safety problems. For example, you mentioned that the car can drive sideways. If something were to go wrong during that, it could end up killing the passengers in the car or even other drivers. However, it is too early to tell. The car has amazing features such as the recyclable graphrene batteries, making it electric. I’m excited to see this car up close at a car show. This for sure changes the game for the car industry.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/photos-mercedes-benzs-concept-car-inspired-by-avatar.html

  4. Mercedes-Benz’s “Avatar” car is a truly remarkable design for any people expect technology presented in movies can actually come to real life. while the futuristic Benz car reveals stunning technology like hand movement steering control, I am concern about the practical value behind such design and its safety index. To briefly talk about this, the hand movement steering control can be dangerous because you can lose control of the car very easily while there is an unexpected chuckhole on the road that causes your hands to have sudden movement on the control panel. Also, the design of this car is so revolutionary that I think it sacrifices a lot of safety guarantee to reach such design. For example, the Avatar supercar does not even have a door, which completely rejects its ability to drive in harsh weather conditions. It is still unknown that the public would accept a car like this even if the company decide to make it available for the public.

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