Mercedes-Benz “Becomes One With James Cameron” With Its Avatar-Inspired Concept Vehicle
Mercedes-Benz is proving that where we’re going is way past “Keeping Up With The Jetsons!” The automobile company that is known for making luxury vehicles, vans, trucks, buses, coaches and ambulances has designed a concept car inspired by the iconic and action-packed 2009 Avatar film. This vehicle was designed with the help of notable director James Cameron and other individuals who worked on the movie.
The vehicle named “Vision AVTR” made its debut at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, which is known for extraordinary and eccentric styling, extreme futuristic tech, and the joining of a major entertainment property.
Exterior
The entire rear end is covered in 33 distinct scales or as Mercedes-Benz would call them “bionic flaps”. The company says that these “flaps” could potentially be used to communicate with people outside the car…interesting…
It also has ginormous spherical wheels that one can only imagine changing. Mercedes-Benz says that they were inspired by the “seeds of the Tree of Souls” from the 2009 movie. On-lookers at the Consumer Electronics Show saw how the wheels were able to rotate sideways and even diagonally.
Interior
The interior has an incredible design and upcoming tech features that are impossible to find in any car today and even harder to imagine may be standard in the vehicles of the future.
The control unit is placed where you would normally see the gear shift. The wonderfully strange futuristic console is designed to literally reach out from the center and meet the driver’s hand. Mercedes wants to make the final version of the AVTR’s interior where the only way to really interact with the car is through “personal touch”, as it does not have any buttons or a steering wheel. Additionally, drivers and presumably passengers will notice that the interior of the car will vibrate along with his or her heartbeat and breathing. Talk about getting “becoming one with Eywa!”
It is also worth noting that passengers will be surrounded by 3D graphics similar to that of Avatar’s World of Pandora and other interior lights.
Autonomous
As you may have guessed from previously reading “no buttons or steering wheel” that this vehicle will be made to be autonomous. As mentioned, drivers will interact with AVTR with the center console. According to Ola Kallenius, the chairman of Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler, this is an example of how man and machine might “literally merge”.
“Family Mode”
As cool as the design elements are, Mercedes never forgets the importance of safety. The company claims that the AVTR will be able to detect whether or not a family is on board and adapt automatically. Mercedes reps didn’t go too in-depth as to how this adaption will work out but it did say that in its 23-page press release that parents will be able to monitor their children from the dashboard screen.
Another wonderfully odd feature mentioned by the luxury-car company is that if your little one starts to feel lonely, then there will actually be a light that mimics the breathing vibration to let them know that they have not “yet” been abandoned by their parents…can’t help but wonder how the system will even determine if the child is lonely… what if they just need their diaper changed? Apparently learning-oriented gaming and an overall “child-friendly augmented reality-experienced” will be included.
The overall vision for the “Vision”
During the CES Show, spokespersons for Mercedes-Benz spent quite a bit of time talking about how the design of the AVTR was envisioned and also made a heavy emphasis on incorporating sustainable elements in the process. The concept car will be charged by graphene-based organic battery cells that don’t require rare earth materials. The company claims that the Avatar inspired car may even be compostable, as the interior is made from recycled plastics and vegan leather.
Moreover, spokespersons stated in a briefing that they believe the spherical wheels would make less of an impact on the forest floor…should your GPS lead you to that detour…
Both dynamic duos wanted something that would reflect green and sustainable technologies of the future. The overall theme is “Protect the natural resources around you.” The long term goal of Mercedes is to reduce its carbon footprint. It sees AVTR as the literal manifestation of that reality. “We’re aiming at carbon-neutral vehicle production, growing the share of electric vehicles sold and, finally, having a carbon-neutral new passenger car fleet by 2039. We want to address this in a holistic way. That includes driving our suppliers and partners to comply with our objective of carbon neutrality,” remarked Källenius, chairman of the board of management Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG.
Mercedes-Benz of Washington
As previously stated, the AVTR is only a concept car and with the many outrageously wonderful ideas that Mercedes has in store, it’s more than certain that this model won’t be ready anytime soon.
On the flip side, Mercedes is still known for being able to deliver high-quality vehicles when you need them. If you visit Mercedes-Benz of Washington, you’ll find a wide range of amazing high-powered vehicles in our new and used car inventory. Feel free to chat with an online representative if you have any questions.