Italian designer Icona must have taken the time to thoroughly think through its Nucleus autonomous car concept. This is not your ordinary autonomous car in any way. It is a breathtaking design that has the capacity and the capability to change everything we know about the autonomous car. To start with, it is an all-electric drive.
Bearing in mind that Icona is the designer who helps automakers come up with concepts that transcend our thinking, it is not far-fetched to have their own creation as one outstanding piece of art work. The swooping lines of the Icona Nucleus give the vehicle a low-lying look, much like a wild cat getting ready to sprint at prey.
The cabin is a sophisticated combination of several elements that which the company has labeled a ‘mobile living space.’ Passengers have enough space to stretch out and there are no windows on any side but rather the panels that make up the body are are semi-transparent. This is perhaps the greatest indicator of the vehicles autonomous capability.
But there is something that makes the Nucleus a specifically very interesting project; it is the source of driving power. The drivetrain consists of two batteries, a fuel cell, eight hydrogen tanks, and wheel-based motors. Bearing in mind that the company was recently awarded in Germany for its outstanding design quality, there is evidently a lot more to the powertrain than just putting out numbers for the sake of it.
Icona chairman and CEO Teresio Gigi Gaudio says that this “is not the car of tomorrow, but the car after tomorrow,” which is quite an appropriate observation. He goes ahead to articulate his futuristic approach saying that the company is looking at impacting on the very core of car lovers, emotional attachment.
“Unless you are able to create emotion or interest, you’re failing. In order to create interest, you have to be front-edge of innovation. You have to do something that is advanced. We are not going to show an SUV.”
Image Source: icona-designcgroup.com
