Getty Image / Mario Tama
Anytime I see mention of Avatar I pretty much lose interest these days because we’ve been waiting on sequels for over a decade now. Sure, the sequels are allegedly hitting theaters in the next few years but I’ll believe that shit when I see it.
Instead of skipping past this Avatar-related news, I’m glad my eyes actually took notice of the rest of the story because this concept car debuted by Mercedes-Benz is a bonafide badass. It’s inspired by Avatar and that’s easy to see in the car’s aesthetics but what really makes this unique is this car’s capable of driving sideways.
Debuted at CES in Las Vegas, the car is capable of moving sideways, it responds to the driver’s touch, and it runs on a battery that is completely compostable. Daimler-Benz unveiled the Vizion AVTR to excited fans and they enlisted James Cameron‘s help in the entire project.
On the surface, the Vizion AVTR looks like some mixture between The Bean in Chicago and something I’d expect to see in Tron since there weren’t exactly roads in Avatar but it’s definitely got the look of a supercar I’d love to see in the future.
Check this thing out:
The Daily Mail was at CES with the scoop:
‘I sat at this car, at the control interface and it just felt alive, it breathes, it’s just organic,’ said Cameron.
The entirely electric car, a sleek and futuristic looking sedan, is capable of traveling autonomously and can even use its unique wheel design to slide sideways using ‘bionic flaps’ that are modeled after a reptile’s scales.
The so-called flaps all allow front and rear axles in the same or opposite direction, and give the VISION AVTR the ability to move sideways by about 30 degrees, in a type of “crab movement’ that also gives the concept vehicle an animal-like exterior.
The car, even takes some of its functional cues from the movie franchise, using what the company calls ‘biometric connection.’
The car doesn’t have a steering wheel. It’s activated when the driver touches the central control unit and the car then senses the driver’s breathing and heartbeat. Not creepy at all. Definitely not an opening for the robots to overthrow humanity.
The driver then lifts their hand and can swipe through a 3D menu of functions. Obviously, this car will NEVER be made available to the public but that doesn’t mean it’s not a badass creation.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BiiYqgrCo/
According to IMDB, Avatar‘s 2, 3, 4, and 5, are all in the works with releases slated fro 2021, 2023, 2025, and 2027. I’ll believe it when I see it.