The Mercedes-Benz AVTR Is The Sustainable, Living Car Of The Future

• AVTR stands for Advanced Vehicle Transformation.
• The car interacts with the user using flowing light and ‘scales’ on its back.
• A 3D map of Pandora can be projected onto the windscreen and dashboard.
• It has a graphene battery made with compostable materials.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled one of its most revolutionary and futuristic concepts at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020. It is called the Vision AVTR, which stands for Advanced Vehicle TRansformation. Mercedes developed it closely with the team responsible for the 2009 movie Avatar, which is due to get a sequel in 2021. 

The Vision AVTR is a striking concept with an earthy design and flowing light patterns. A single light bar placed above an illuminated Mercedes logo gives it a unique face. There’s some exuberance in the form of 7-spoke wheels that light up in a brilliant blue, and full glass doors. Move to the rear and the Mercedes has dragon-like scales on its back! These are 33 body-coloured flat plates that sit flush with the roofline. They can rise off the surface and move in multiple directions for an unbelievable light display.

Step inside and the cabin welcomes you with dainty strips of light. There is no steering wheel, pedals, or controls of any sort. You do get a pop up ‘multifunctional control element’ on the centre console that lets you control the car. This touch-sensitive element recognises the driver by his or her heartbeat!

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“By simply lifting the hand, a menu selection is projected onto the palm of the hand, through which the passenger can intuitively choose between different functionalities,” says Mercedes. A 3D map of Pandora can be displayed on the dash screen. You can use the centre console controller to navigate the fictional map too!

Graphene-based batteries power the Vision AVTR, completely devoid of rare-earth metals and built with compostable and recyclable materials. The car’s seats are made with Dinamica vegan leather, since Dinamica guarantees sustainability in its production process. The AVTR’s floor is lined with Karuun, a wood derived from the liana wood Rattan.

Mercedes’ latest concept is nothing like its other Vision concepts. The AVTR is a car for the distant future. It looks like a slice of advanced alien technology, and that’s what its meant to be. But some of the AVTR’s features are not so far fetched. Extensive research is going on in the field of solid-state batteries. We may see these high-capacity, low-weight batteries being used in production cars in some years.

The road to complete sustainability is long, but concepts like the Vision AVTR and movies like Avatar show us that technological advancement doesn’t have to come at the cost of the environment.