They say it’s about 85% there. Exciting times.
Upstart EV carmaker Byton has made quite a splash in Milan this week, unveiling to the world a concept car that the company claims is about “85% there” in terms of production feasibility. The marque, made up of poached high-level executives and specialists across the ‘traditional’ automotive industry, say that while the exterior might need revisions, the cabin (undoubtedly the most complex part of Byton’s presentation) is “series-production ready.”
Under the skin, you’ll find an ‘electric skateboard’ just like in most electric vehicles, with lithium-ion cells sandwiched into the floor to leave maximum room for occupants. The Byton SUV can be had in either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, with up to 350kW of power and 520km of range.
The Byton Concept in Milan measures up at 4850mm in length, 1940mm in width, and 1650mm in height, with 22-inch alloys in each corner. Slim lights are the order of the day front and rear, with an interesting light signature beneath the main light units (again, front and rear) which remind us vaguely of cut Bohemian crystal.
The cabin is undoubtedly ‘where it’s at’ though, with the presentation dominated by a full-width infotainment screen that Byton calls the ‘Shared Experience Display.’ It comprises of three customisable panels, which includes space to display feeds from the two rearwards facing cameras on either side of the car (in place of conventional mirrors).
The Shared Experience Display utilises voice control and gesture control extensively to navigate its enormousness, and work in tandem with an 8-inch touchscreen that’s mounted in the centre of the steering wheel, which also has some controls that do things. And then there are buttons framing that touchscreen too, to do more things.
The reason why there are multiple displays with which you can do many things is because the main car thing you do (driving) can now be handed off to some software. The Byton SUV will come pre-loaded with hardware and software by industry experts Aurora, which will be aided by built-in 5G connectivity capabilities that Byton says will be able to transmit up to 10GB a second.
Imagine watching Netflix on that screen. In UltraHD, no doubt.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
