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With its primary focus on enhancing the driving experience rather than the on-road, Byton unveiled its first near-production-ready model of its state of the art tech equipped electric SUV at the Milan Design Week 2018. Byton is the brand name for all-electric cars to be introduced by the Nanjing based Future Mobility Corporation (FMC).
Carsten Breitfeld, CEO & Co-Founder, claimed the production model to be 85 percent ready. The main USP of the Byton is ts touchscreen-dominated interior and Carsten assures it to be production-ready. The last phase of the production will involve minor modifications as per legal requirements. In the words of Dr. Breitfeld, Byton will be the flag bearer in the coming era of truly shared, smart mobility and autonomous driving. Shanghai is pegged to witness the first Byton brand store by the end of this year. Byton aims at using online channels in place of the traditional dealership sales model. In addition to this, the start-up plans to launch a series of brand stores in partnership with dealerships. The traditional dealership will be lured with added benefits.
At the Milan Design Week 2018, Byton showcased the concept for its brand stores. Potential customers will be able to engage in a wide plethora of topics which will include digital products and services. Byton has completed the first prototype version of its upcoming SUV. The first offering from Byton’s factory in Nanjing, China will be completed by the middle of the year post some crash tests. It is slated to go on sale in China next year followed swiftly by a 2020 launch in European and the USA. Byton promises to deliver a full charge range of nearly 520 km. It will be powered by a twin-motor four-wheel-drive system with 475hp. It will come with a price tag of £32,000 (Rs 30 lakh, approx).
Buyers will have the choice of opting from one of the two powertrain configurations –
A single 272hp electric motor driving the rear axle to produce 400 Nm of torque or
A four-wheel-drive variant with motors driving each axle churning out 475 hp and 710 Nm of torque.
Modular lithium-ion batteries coupled to the SUV's chassis act as the power banks. Byton has kept the battery capacity under wraps. However, Byton has revealed that the SUV will have a range of 399 Km expandable up to 520 km via an upgraded battery pack. Other highlights from the 4,850mm long, 1,940mm wide and 1,650mm high concept version include:
Slim LED headlights part of the acclaimed ‘smart surface’.
Handle-free Doors equipped with facial recognition cameras.
Customizable Shared Experience Display: Three panels based 1,250mm x 250mm smart touch cum display dashboard.
A group of Three rear-facing safety cameras: Two of these are part of the wing mirrors and the third is mounted on the car’s rear. The cameras are equipped with automatic
The App based Shard Experience Display
The main USP of the Byton is the self-adjusting smart display that replaces the traditional dashboard. It adjusts brightness and background color automatically as per lighting conditions. Supports gestures as well as voice control. It can also be operated by a smartphone app. In addition to the hi-tech front display system, Byton will also feature two displays for passengers in the rear.
A touch-based 8.0-inch Driver Tablet perfectly integrated into the steering wheel assists the driver with all information including navigation systems. Driver mode selectors, indicators and the volume keys of the infotainment system form part of the edge of the display. In addition to this, a facial recognition camera for each ensures frictionless and smooth drive experience by facilitating personalized seat adjustments as per the individuals shared preferences. The front seats can swivel upto 12 degrees.
Blyton's SUV boasts of the Aurora developed self-driving technology for the automobile. Founded by Chris Urmson, formerly head of Google's autonomous driving arm, Aurora will provide driver assistance systems with Level 4 autonomy. In layman’s term, Byton will be able to drive itself without any human input. All the features will be in sync with ‘Byton Life’, Bytons very own cloud-sharing platform. The makers have designed a truly smart car of the 21st century that will support OTA updates as technology develops. The vehicle architecture will support 5G mobile data connection, with speeds of up to 10GB per second.
As part of its expansion plan as well as the objective to bring the best of the world’s expertise together, the China-based company now operates in 6 locations worldwide with offices in the USA and Germany. Bytons management comprises of several experienced car industry executives. Dr. Carsten Breitfeld the CEO was formerly part of the BMW’s i division along with designer Benoit Jacob. Henrik Wenders, The firm’s marketing chief, was also formerly employed by BMW’s i division.
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