Avatar: the way of water opens this week as one of the most anticipated movies of the year.
The long-awaited sequel to 2009’s groundbreaking Avatar, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic inspired Mercedes-Benz to create a futuristic Vision AVTR concept car, which it unveiled at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Now, with the release of the film, Mercedes-Benz got together with the film’s producers to showcase the car again.
The Vision AVTR’s outlandish design was inspired by the nature of Pandora, the planet on which Avatar takes place, and Mercedes-Benz went fully into sci-fi mode with the car. This includes reptilian-like scales on its rear deck, made up of 33 "bionic flaps" which communicate between the driver and the outside world through what Mercedes-Benz says are “naturally flowing subtle gestures”.
The tall, blue Na'vi aliens ride flying creatures are called banshees, which provided the inspiration for the AVTR’s shape.
Envisioning what Mercedes-Benz terms a “distant future of mobility”, the Vision AVTR features special spherical wheels that were inspired by the “seeds of the Tree of Souls” from the movie. These wheels can rotate so that the AVTR can move sideways or diagonally.
Inspired by the bioluminescent fauna on Pandora, the cabin has radical mood lighting.
The AVTR, as with most concept cars these days, previews a world of self-driving vehicles and doesn't have a steering wheel. Instead, passengers interact with the vehicle through an accordion-style biometric controller that glides up out of the centre console.
Placing a hand on the controller makes the interior come to life, and the vehicle recognises the driver by their heartbeat and breathing. A menu selection is projected onto the palm of a hand, through which the passenger can intuitively choose between different functionalities, with 3D graphics.
The AVTR is planet-friendly too. Apart from being electrically-powered, it uses a revolutionary battery technology based on graphene-based organic cell chemistry that is free of rare earths and metals, and completely recyclable. Its vegan-friendly seats are made of a leather-like Dinamica microfibre.
