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Land Rover chose the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier (now a museum) as the venue to reveal its Discovery Vision Concept to the world, alongside Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise, before displaying the future-gazing technological powerhouse on its stand at the New York Auto Show.
Exterior
First impressions suggest the Discovery will be an imposing vehicle as ever. The body panels are large and free of adornment for the most part, leading to a clean design, yet one that struggles to disguise the large dimensions of the car. Fans of the Discovery will approve of the retained stepped roof (though it's more subtle than before) and there's a nod to the asymmetrical rear window style in the sculpting of the hatch between the squared-off rear lamps. Front and rear lights carry on from the latest style used on the three Range Rover models, though the Discovery concept features laser lighting at the front.
Interior
Browse through the gallery of images and you might notice that the Discovery Vision features back doors that are hinged from the rear; we don't expect that feature to reach production, but it does allow Land Rover to show off the spacious and versatile interior, which we presume isn't a million miles away from a production reality. The automatically retracting side sills that aid ingress might even make it to the showroom. The concept car has seven individual seats, and most of them seem to slide and fold away electrically, allowing multiple configurations. Open the rear hatch (gesture-controlled and electrically operated of course) and there's the option to extend an 'event platform' to sit or stand on depending on how active your lifestyle pursuit is...
Back in the main cabin, there's loads to pore over. The steering wheel features two OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) touchscreens to control the infotainment system, while there are no steering column mounted stalks to control things like the indicators and dipping and dimming the headlights - they're all done by simple gestures. More latest-gen touchscreens adorn the centre console, behind one of which hides a storage area, where wireless phone charging is possible. Below that is a new take on Jaguar Land Rover's rotary gear selector - this one rises up automatically as it detects the driver's hand approaching. There's another dial behind for things like Terrain Response and Tow Assist. And that's where things get really interesting, as this control can be removed completely to operate the Remote Control Drive (see below).
Plenty of other clever touches are scattered around the cabin, including leather upholstery that is not only soft and lovely to look at, but is also fully oil and water repellent. We love the detachable luggage built into the doors, which have hard cases, wheels and handles to pull them along.
Mechanicals
The engine isn't even mentioned in the press release, but there's lots of highly advanced technology. First up is the 'transparent' bonnet we've written about previously. Using extra cameras and 'smart glass' for all glazed areas, it is possible to give the driver the impression that they are looking straight through the bonnet to the ground underneath. The smart glass can be used for other reasons too, from projecting extra information about landmarks onto the glass for passengers, to assisting with parking or hooking up to a trailer.
Actually, using the aforementioned Remote Control Drive, the driver doesn't even need to be in the car for this. Pop it out of the centre console and the Discovery can be remote controlled at very low speeds. Land Rover have identified three genuinely good reasons for this: extreme off-road manoeuvres where there are no guides; coupling a trailer; or driving through a gate that must be opened and closed behind - i.e. jump out, open the gate, remote control the car through, close the gate and get back in before driving away. Genius. No doubt parking in tight spots would also be possible.
And there's more. Laser Terrain Scanning maps the ground ahead of the vehicle using infrared lasers to help the driver understand what's coming. Lasers are also used in the new iteration of Wade Aid, which can analyse the depth of water ahead to ensure it's safe. All of this links in with the extended Terrain Response system, which can automatically switch between modes. Not only that; it offers different levels of semi-autonomous off-roading, from All Terrain Progress Control (a kind of low-speed adaptive cruise control for all terrains), to All Terrain Coach and Enhanced All Terrain Coach, both of which help the driver learn how to drive off-road the Land Rover way.
As far-fetched as some of this new technology may sound, we don't see why it's not all possible in the medium term, though how much it will all cost is another thing...
Anything else?
The Virgin Galactic tie-up goes deeper than finding a cool venue in which to launch the Discovery concept car, as Land Rover and Virgin Galactic have signed a 'long-term global partnership', which will see Virgin using an extensive fleet of Land Rovers in its day-to-day business of commercialising space flight.
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic said: "We couldn't be more delighted to have Land Rover join us on our incredible journey. It is hard to think of a brand which is more synonymous with exploration and adventure. The safety and engineering excellence of Land Rover's vehicles, which have been the stuff of legend for more than 65 years, are attributes which also lie at the heart of Virgin Galactic. We look forward to crossing the final frontier together and to a long and fruitful partnership."
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