Chevrolet unveils self-driving electric FNR at Shanghai event

Home »Chevrolet unveils self-driving electric FNR at Shanghai event

Chevrolet unveils self-driving electric FNR at Shanghai event

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Label:

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It might look like something plucked straight from the future, but Chevrolet's latest innovation is actually their vision of tomorrow's self-driving electric vehicle.

Called the Chevrolet-FNR, it boasts a futuristic capsule design among other interesting features.

The car is only a concept for now, but offers a glimpse and what some manufacturers are planning for the upcoming self-driving car era.

General Motors has unveiled the Chevrolet-FNR car (shown). It has 'dragonfly' swing doors that open upwards and 'crystal laser headlights'

The car was unveiled at the Shanghai General Motors Gala Night this week.

It was developed in Shanghai by GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Centre (PATAC) joint venture.

Chevrolet said the car offered a 'glimpse at mobility of the future.'

The 'aim was to create a unique, intelligent vehicle for tomorrow's younger consumers by utilizing innovative car networking technology,' said GM.

It has crystal laser headlights and taillights and 'dragonfly' dual swing doors that open upwards.

The car also has magnetic hubless electric wheel motors and a wireless autocharging system.

Sensors and roof-mounted radar are used to map the environment nearby for self-driving mode, and you can even turn on the car with your eyes, thanks to its iris recognition start.

The car is self-driving, electric, and the front chairs can swivel round (shown). And using iris recognition software you can start it using only your eyes

The car was unveiled at the Shanghai General Motors Gala Night this week (shown)

Chevrolet said the car offered a 'glimpse at mobility of the future'

The 'aim was to create a unique, intelligent vehicle for tomorrow's younger consumers by utilizing innovative car networking technology,' said the company

While in self-driving mode, the front seats of the vehicle swivel 180 degrees to face the rear seats, so the driver can talk to their passengers.

Using a gesture control feature, though, the driver can switch to manual control mode whenever they want.

Chevrolet notes that the car is just a concept, so there is no release date or planned production date yet.

'The FNR concept reaffirms Chevrolet's commitment to offer electric vehicles that meet customer's lifestyles and are within their reach,' said Alan Batey, head of global Chevrolet.

At the event Chevrolet also unveiled a new car in its Malibu range, the Bolt EV Concept vehicle and the 2015 Captiva.

COULD DRIVERLESS CARS INCREASE TRAVEL SICKNESS?

Self-driving cars may be a way to take your eyes off the road and relax a little, but they can also increase travel sickness, research has found.

The research was carried out by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

They asked more than 3,200 adults across the US, India, China, Japan, Great Britain and Australia what kinds of activities they would do instead of driving in a fully self-driving vehicle.

More than a third of Americans said they would do things that increase the likelihood and severity of motion sickness, including reading, texting, watching movies or television, playing games or working.

More than half of Indians, 40 per cent of Chinese and up to 30 per cent of adults in Japan, Great Britain and Australia said they would also engage in these kinds of activities.

The figures suggest that once autonomous vehicles become more mainstream as many as 12 per cent of people will feel ill in the vehicles at some point during a journey.