After unveiling a vision for 2030 with the concept car and house SYMBIOZ at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2017, Renault gave to journalists the chance to climb on board SYMBIOZ demo car, the first rolling prototype built to be autonomous from the ground up and to give us a more near-term experience to 2023.
The SYMBIOZ demo car road tests provide Renault with the opportunity to demonstrate in real-life conditions a car that is autonomous, electric and connected. The result is a whole new life-on-board experience and as much pleasure while driving as with hands off the steering wheel.
The Renault SYMBIOZ demo car is equipped with level 4 autonomous driving technology, known as “mind-off”. This frees up the driver from all dynamic driving tasks when the car’s automated driving system is switched on, therefore it is no longer necessary for the driver to concentrate on the road ahead.
Thanks to the combined engineering, automated driving, and geo-positioning expertise of Renault, IAV and TomTom, the Renault SYMBIOZ Demo car is capable —on authorized highways—of adjusting its speed to maintain safe distances with surrounding cars, of staying in its lane even when cornering, of safely changing lanes (to overtake another car or exit the highway, for example), and of navigating autonomously in traffic jams.
The SYMBIOZ demo car onboard connectivity system allows driver and passengers uninterrupted access to their digital lives and offers a wide range of services, all the better to make use of their new-found time on the road.
Occupants of the car are identified by their smartphone regardless of where they are sitting. The smartphone interacts with the SYMBIOZ human-machine interface to adjust personalized functions such as preferred seat settings, air-conditioning settings, and music preferences.
Onboard the SYMBIOZ demo car the “mind-off” experience expands even further, thanks to the virtual reality options designed by Ubisoft and available while traveling in autonomous mode. Wearing virtual reality headset and with the seat inclined in “zero gravity” position, the driver plunges into an immersive and contemplative world, fully relaxed and detached from the pressures of the road.
On its stage at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Renault presented the SYMBIOZ concept car alongside a connected home designed by Marchi Architectes to allow visitors to experience the way cars may be interacting with the domestic environment in the future. When parked inside the home, the SYMBIOZ concept car showed how cars could play an even more important role in our everyday lives.
all images and video courtesy of Renault