Mercedes has unveiled its autonomous driving concept at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 in Las Vegas. The concept has been named ‘F 015 Luxury In Motion’.
The German carmaker says the new concept “shows how the automobile is changing from a means of transportation to a private retreating space”, complete with swivelling chairs in place of traditional car seats. The four seats can pivot to allow for face-to-face conversations during autonomous driving, towards the door for easy ingress and egress, and to conventional positions while manual driving. Connectivity is handled by a six touchscreen set-up on the inside. They can recognise eye tracks, gestures and swipes. The cabin is also lit with LED lamps that glow blue in autonomous mode and white when being manually driven.
Space on the inside is quite generous, thanks to the F 015 measuring 5220mm long, 2018mm wide and 1524mm high, with an ample wheelbase of 3610mm. The lightweight body is built using materials like carbonfibre-reinforced plastic, aluminium and high-strength steel. It is claimed to be around 40 percent lighter than lightweight structures being used today.
Mechanically, the F 015 uses a plug-in hydrogen fuel cell and two electric motors developing a combined 268bhp.
Dipan Sur
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Suraj Viswanathan
Hormazd Sorabjee
