GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Renault EZ-GO revealed
French robo-car is more than just a "box on wheels", insists chief designerIt won't take you off-road. There's no drift mode either. But the creator of the almighty Renault Megane RS hot hatch is pumped about its EZ-GO concept car.
The Renault EZ-GO is a vision of shared urban mobility, a futuristic self-driving car that promises to reduce congestion, improve transit for its occupants and deliver zero-emission mobility solutions.
Oh, and it's not a homogenous blob, either.
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During the Renault EZ-GO concept's 2018 Geneva motor show reveal, Laurens Van Den Acker, Renault's director of design, proclaimed: "As you can see, our fully autonomous robo-vehicle concept still looks like a car and not like a box on wheels.
"We believe that driverless shared vehicles should be attractive and can even become iconic."
The former Mazda design chief says the new EZ-GO concept could become like the black cabs in London or the yellow cabs in New York.
Renault appears to want a solution that could spell the demise of cars, buses, trains, taxis ubers and even rental bikes by providing a simple, safe and emission-free mode of transport designed for both public and private service.
Offering a wide field of vision for its panoply of sensors and lots of glass so people can see out of – and through – it, the Renault EZ-GO does have one or two regular car features. It has wheels, adaptive suspension and electric motors to provide propulsion to the rear wheels (technically it could do skids).
Four-wheel steering makes the big French robo-car more manoeuvrable so it can navigate dense urban traffic and tight streets, while inductive charging for its underfloor batteries means it doesn't need to be plugged in to recharge.
Measuring 5.2 metres long and 2.2 metres wide, the Renault EZ-GO is bigger than a Holden Caprice. It doesn't have a V8 -- just a single electric motor -- but considering it's got a flat floor and entry ramps, entry and exit to the peculiar vehicle is simplified.
There's no driver's seat but there is a large horseshoe-shaped sofa and room for six occupants. There's also a luggage area.
"This is what tomorrow's transportation could look like," said Renault's chief operating officer Thierry Bollore as the bulbous contraption was unveiled on stage in Geneva.
Tipping the scales at 1700kg, you wouldn’t want to be cleaned up by a haywire Renault EZ-GO, which is considered a Level 4 autonomous vehicle.
Realistically, a vehicle like this could be on the road by 2030.
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