Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept: First Look and Gallery
Looks like: George Jetson’s Land Rover with plenty of wraparound glass, rear-hinged doors, a sleek profile and laser headlights
Defining characteristics: Ultra-configurable seating for four to seven passengers as well as a host of from-the-future gadgets
Ridiculous features: It’s the ultimate luxury toy with a remote control system that allows you to control the SUV from your smartphone
Chance of being mass-produced: Land Rover confirmed that a new family of vehicles under the Defender umbrella will be produced — we’re betting not one of them will be remote-controlled
One thing we’ve noticed ahead of the 2014 New York International Auto Show is that concept cars are few and far between. In fact, Land Rover may have one of the only concept reveals — but what a concept it is. The Discovery Vision Concept gives us a hint at the automaker’s plans for a family of new SUVs along with a glimpse into some pretty out-there technology.
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Land Rover says the design embodies the “ultimate leisure SUV,” and nowhere is that more apparent than inside. The cabin is finished in two types of washable and water- and oil-repellent leather along with wood veneer on the floors and instrument panel and Harris tweed accents — how very British.
The SUV concept’s highly configurable cabin makes room for anywhere from four to seven passengers with seats that fold, slide and even convert into a tablelike surface. But don’t start looking for the buttons and levers yet — all of this is done via a touch-screen menu.
In fact, you don’t actually even have to talk to your fellow passengers — simply call them using Land Rover’s human-machine interface technology. Using four 10-inch high-resolution (3 million pixels!) seatback-mounted screens, occupants can video chat and use gestures to control vehicle functions like doors and headlight controls.
The seatbacks also hold convenience features like pop-out coat hangers, fold-out tray tables and tablet docking ports. Integrated into the rear doors is detachable luggage. Farther back, the single-piece power tailgate can transform into a bench or be outfitted with a ski or bike rack.
Land Rover gave no specifics regarding powertrain, but plenty of gadget-specific information. The Discovery Vision is a rolling science experiment with technology ranging from a remote control system that allows you to exit the vehicle and maneuver it using your smartphone to a suite of cameras that project the terrain ahead on a windshield head-up display and then uses lasers to plot your future course.
Check out the gallery below; Cars.com photos by Evan Sears.
