Turin, Italy-based Icona Design Group will showcase its Nucleus driverless vehicle concept at next month and Auto Expo 2020 in Delhi NCR. The Nucleus, the company says, is a fully autonomous (Level 5) vehicle. Inside, the absence of a driver not only mean the absence of a steering wheel and a dashboard, but leads to a new understanding of mobile living spaces.
Teresio Gigi Gaudio, Icona president & CEO, said: We expect India to become a major player in electric vehicles with the involvement of traditional and new manufacturers. The Nucleus represents the synthesis of futurism and a human-centred mindset. It takes the Icona Neo Concept one step further by reconsidering the way we use a vehicle. Neo introduced us to tomorrow, Nucleus introduces us to after-tomorrow.
The design
Being fully autonomous, there is no side glass in the traditional sense, but semi-transparent body colour panels that allow occupants to see outside. The upper glass from the windscreen to the complete roof is asymmetrical, divided into fully transparent and semi-transparent glass.
It is 5.25 metres long, 2.12 metres wide and 1.75 metres tall. Its motor-in-wheel technology (a 110kW electric motor fitted in each wheel) helps optimise space inside, and it has a hydrogen range extender that is claimed to drive the car up to 1,200 km. It can seat six people.
The design inspiration, the company said, has come as much from the Concorde aircraft as from a yacht.
But don’t expect to see a car such as the Nucleus on public roads any time soon and it looks way too far into the future of mobility. Some day we might get there.
