New Renault Symbioz concept is an extension of your home
Renault’s Symbioz Frankfurt show concept is a driverless, electric four-door that is designed to play a more vital role in our daily lives
Renault has pulled the covers off a future-thinking new concept car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The Symbioz is an electric, connected four-door with level four autonomy that previous what to expect from the carmaker by 2030.
Renault claims that the Symbioz – derived from the Ancient Greek word for ‘living together’ – is more than mere transport as it can be used as a “modular extra room” for your home. The French brand paints the picture of a moving platform that can raise and lower the car onto different floors of the house, for example providing a small relaxation area to sit in on a roof terrace.
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The 4.7-metre long concept is the size of a large family car, but Renault promises it offers space levels over and above a traditional three-box car. The exterior apparently “resembles an architect-designed house”, with the upper portion of the car made almost entirely from glass and attached to the lower body using a high-tech enamelling process.
The lower part of the carbon-fibre body is more swollen, with oversized wheels, a wide shoulder-line and a front end demonstrating an extreme version of Renault’s current family face. The doors are particularly unique, with no central pillar, the main frames opening in a suicide configuration and the glass upper portion lifting up as one section.
Renault is going big on the lounge theme in the cabin, with seats that automatically pivot to allow occupants to easily sink inside and materials such as felt, fine marble and porcelain used. A giant 80cm OLED display coated in tough Gorilla Glass sits in front of the driver, and when the autonomous mode is activated the entire dashboard (including the steering column and pedals) retract away by 15cm. The seats then retract into an armchair position, and can also pivot around a table that opens in the centre of the cabin.
Also announced is a separate Symbioz demo car, which is designed to offer a closer preview of tech that we’ll see from Renault in 2023. It shows how an autonomous car can provide a “sensory in-car experience”, with several driving modes that can set up almost every aspect of the car’s cabin or major controls according to how it is being driven or whether it’s in autonomous mode. The demo car also debuts an updated version of its ‘Multi-Sense’ tech that will transfer to future production models.
As expected, the demo car showcases a wide range of connected services. Occupants are identified as soon as they enter and can access their entire’ digital environment’ just like a home office. It can communicate with domestic appliances, and be forewarned of incidents on the road ahead several miles in advance.
Both the concept and demo car are powered by two electric motors powering the rear wheels. The demo car promises 670bhp and 660Nm of torque, meaning a 0-62mph time of less than six seconds and a real-world range of 311 miles. Inductive charging can boost the batteries by 80 per cent in twenty minutes.
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