The New Age Discovery | Vision Concept | PR

Land Rover today revealed its Discovery Vision Concept SUV in New York. It is a vision of Land Rover's future family of Discovery vehicles, the first model of which is due in 2015. The concept car previews dynamic new design language and an array of innovative versatility and capability features, while also showcasing pioneering technologies from Jaguar Land Rover's advanced research division. With the Discovery poised to transition from a single model to a new family of vehicles which will redefine the leisure SUV category, the Discovery Vision Concept offers an exciting preview of Land Rover's vision for the range, and the modern, premium design language of future models.


DESIGNED FOR THE FUTURE
The Discovery Vision Concept alludes to its unique lineage with design elements such as the stepped roof and alpine lights. Far greater attention than ever before has been given to creating relevant versatility combined with compelling design. This is a radical and sharply focused approach to embodying Land Rover's vision of the ultimate leisure SUV.

Gerry McGovern, Design Director and Chief Creative Officer, Land Rover, said: "The Discovery Concept vehicle represents a Vision of our future family of leisure SUVs. Its modern, relevant and compelling design is a significant shift from Discovery as we know it, while well considered practicality, configurability and Land Rover's capability seamlessly blend to create a highly desirable vehicle that connects on an emotional level."

DISCOVERY VISION CONCEPT: DESIGNING THE FUTURE
The Discovery Concept is a vision into the future of Land Rover's new family of leisure vehicles. It is a vision of a premium and thoroughly modern lifestyle vehicle - a highly desirable interpretation of our well established Discovery nameplate, with a strong focus on relevant versatility and compelling design. This will truly resonate with customers while respecting the established values of Discovery's unique heritage.

With its optimised volume and proportions, dramatic silhouette and overall modernity inside and out, this concept is a radical departure from Discovery as we know it - and yet, its unique DNA is evident, with the stepped roof, alpine lights, command driving position and stadium seating all working in harmony to create a vehicle that acknowledges its roots, whilst firmly looking forward.

Though a full-size SUV, the Discovery Vision Concept looks remarkably compact. This has been achieved through a combination of well-considered design elements such as wrap around headlamps and tail lamps and the short front and rear overhangs serving to reduce the visual length. The headlamps utilize advanced laser technology to generate incredibly bright, far-reaching beams of light, paired with LED daytime running lights. Slim foglamps on either side of the prominent undershield are capable of emitting both infrared and colored lasers, which assist in the Laser Terrain Scanning and Laser Referencing functions.

In profile, the Discovery Vision Concept's raised beltline alludes to the incredible levels of space available inside. The doors are operated by gesture control, and, with no need for handles, the resulting clean, beautifully crafted surfaces and the flush, tight gaps between their interfaces further impart a sense of modernity.

The slim, aerodynamic wing mirrors have embedded cameras, which augment the view of the driver through the windows, providing an extended field of vision while parking and reversing. Just below the doors, sill steps on either side automatically deploy to facilitate occupants' entry and exit, with LED lighting to illuminate the ground being stepped onto.

The body coloured C-pillar, the stepped roof flowing into the alpine lights and the distinctive asymmetrical graphic element on the rear number plate also references its Discovery heritage.

The Discovery Concept takes a thoroughly modern view but also acknowledges the need to evolve specific Discovery elements such as the split tailgate which has evolved on the Discovery concept to a highly flexible new tailgate design incorporating a social seat system in the vehicle's loadspace area.

The gesture-controlled, electrically powered, single-piece tailgate is paired with an event platform, which electrically deploys from within the rear bumper, just above the rear undershield. The Vision Concept has sleek horizontal tail lamps and vertical foglamps, and as at the front, the rear window also features hidden wipers, neatly concealed under the rear spoiler.

The concept car, which is painted in a Tribeca Grey finish, is fitted with bespoke 23-inch split-five-spoke Aero Viper alloy wheels with a bright silver turned finish.

INTERIOR: INNOVATION AND VERSATILITY COMBINED
The interior of the Discovery Vision Concept is a dynamic blend of form, color and material, striking in its clean, modern visual simplicity. It has been carefully crafted to deliver enormous levels of spaciousness and an open, airy feel for all occupants, while still cocooning them in an environment that feels cosy and secure.

With a brief to create the ultimate leisure space, Land Rover's design team has created a warm and welcoming interior, crafted in Nimbus and Navy premium leather, open pore grey wood veneer and polished and brushed aluminium finishes. The large glasshouse and panoramic roof let in plenty of light and afford clear views out, while the vehicle's high beltline creates a feeling of security.

The Discovery Vision Concept seats seven full-size adults in great comfort, in a 2+3+2 layout across three rows. Every passenger is catered for equally, with plenty of headroom and legroom and access to storage, infotainment and accessories.

The Discovery Vision Concept maintains the command driving position, within an airy cockpit that gives excellent visibility. Flowing lines and warmly textured materials tastefully complement clean, futuristic technology interfaces. The steering wheel incorporates two small OLED touchscreens to operate the infotainment system, and with turn signals and headlamp functions operated by gesture control, indicator stalks are absent, creating more visual space and less clutter around the driver. This also affords a clear view of the instrument cluster, which features a high-definition screen with a 3-million-pixel resolution for incredibly vivid, sharp imagery.

The top of the fascia has a leather-wrapped aerofoil-shaped structure for a light, minimalist appearance. The swooping form of the fascia's central 'arm' encases two high-resolution touchscreens, which display the vehicle's system menus. The lower touchscreen flips up to reveal a storage binnacle with an induction pad for easy, cable-free recharging of smartphones. Further down along the console is a rotary gearshift control, which deploys and rises into the driver's hand as it approaches, and a secondary rotary which controls functions such as Terrain Response and Tow Assist. This secondary rotary can detached and taken out of the vehicle to operate Remote Control Drive.

The seats have a sculpted, wrap-around effect, with bolstered leather wrapped around the frame for a minimalist yet solid structural appearance. The third-row seats get their own color: Navy leather, in contrast to the other five seats, which are made from Nimbus leather. This visual separation helps create a personalized ambiance for the third-row passengers. All seven seats feature Sky Blue contrast stitching.

Built to take the demands of family life, the Discovery Vision Concept's cabin is finished in Foglizzo H20w, an innovative premium leather that is specially treated to make it completely washable, while the Nubuck inserts on the first- and second-row seats feature Foglizzo H203 treatment that makes them totally oil- and water-repellent, to protect against spills. Soft and beautiful, yet highly durable, the Foglizzo leather is very easily washed and cleaned, making it the perfect solution for an uncompromisingly active lifestyle.

A SkyLight cabin light is incorporated into the structural cross-beam that spans the panoramic roof. Providing an even, warm spread of light, it can be activated and brightened or dimmed with a gesture. Gentle orange lighting in the doors and floors further enhances the ambiance of the interior.

LASER TERRAIN SCANNING
Another enhancement to the driver's capability is Laser Terrain Scanning. The Discovery Vision Concept's foglamps are capable omitting infrared lasers, and these are used to scan the ground ahead, map the terrain and display the mapped imagery on the hi-definition cluster screen, providing the driver a vital visual reference and helping him understand the lay of the land while driving in challenging off-road conditions.

LASER REFERENCING
Both on and off the road,the Discovery Vision Concept's laser technology capability offers an additional resource: Laser Referencing. Here, the laser light is tuned to specific colors in the visible spectrum and used to project visible images onto the road. This has numerous useful applications, including projecting warning triangles onto the tarmac behind the car for other motorists to see in the event of a stoppage, or projecting reference points onto roads, walls or any terrain, in order to help the driver to judge tight gaps and to park or drive in congested spaces.

TRANSPARENT BONNET
Another way of providing the driver with enhanced visibility and a greater understanding of the terrain is Land Rover's innovative Transparent Bonnet system. Cameras under the vehicle's grille send video of the terrain being traversed, projecting it to the Head-Up Display in the windscreen. By overlaying the imagery through the driver's line of sight on the HUD covering the bonnet area, the system effectively creates a 'see-through' bonnet view of the terrain and the direction of the front wheels, thus improving visibility and enhancing driver confidence.

LASER HEADLAMPS
The Discovery Vision Concept's headlamps feature laser diodes in combination with LED running lights. Laser light is the next generation of automotive lighting technology. These lights utilize laser-activated phosphor projection to emit a very bright and even beam of pure white light. The power of the laser light beam adds a distance of over 300 meters to the range of the headlight, and the quality of the light itself is closer to daylight - smooth and clean, with no patchiness or speckling - than any other type of artificial light, all of which makes for excellent and greatly enhanced visibility on the road.

Further, Jaguar Land Rover's intelligent dipping and tracking technology uses hi-definition cameras to automatically detect and assess oncoming traffic, instantly dipping the relevant parts of the light beam to avoid glare to other road users, and adjusting the rest of the beam to maintain perfect visibility in all driving situations.

By immensely boosting driver confidence and decreasing fatigue, reducing glare and avoiding the need to take one's hands off the wheel to operate the dip function, laser headlamps aim to make a huge difference to the automotive landscape by vastly increasing road safety. Additionally, laser lights have the added advantage of also being very compact - a tenth the size of LEDs - which opens up numerous design and engineering possibilities.

SMART GLASS & PASSENGER HMI
The Discovery Vision Concept also previews a truly futuristic technology that will radically transform the user experience for drivers and passengers alike: smart glass. This state-of-the-art glass is capable of displaying imagery, like a computer screen - but is otherwise entirely transparent, like regular glass. Smart glass is used in the entire glasshouse of the Discovery Vision Concept - in all the windows, the panoramic roof and, allied to Head-Up Display (HUD) technology, in the windscreen - and opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Augmented reality involves overlaying real-time information onto the view of the surroundings as seen through the windows by the driver or passengers. The smart glass in the window can work in conjunction with eye-tracking sensors and the vehicle's sat-nav system to identify that, for instance, a passing landmark is being observed by one of the vehicle's passengers - and displays relevant information, such as navigation or tourist data, to that passenger. That information can then be swiped from the window directly into a passenger's seatback infotainment screen, or - adding in the functionality of passengers' personal devices - even to a docked tablet or smartphone,

The image projection properties of smart glass also enhance the view through the windows; for instance, bay parking, reversing around corners or parking a trailer is made easier by projecting camera feeds onto the driver's view out of the smart-glass window, broadening the field of vision.

The graphical properties of smart glass enhance ambiance and privacy controls; the window can be dimmed with infinite gradation or completely blacked out with the swipe of a finger, while the panoramic roof also has the option of displaying screensaver-style 'mood screens'. From a soothing starry night sky as you drive through a city to a clear blue summer sky on a winter's evening - the smart glass on the panoramic roof lets you set the mood.

The Discovery Vision Concept emphasizes a great infotainment experience for all passengers. Individual 10-inch high-resolution screens are fitted into four of the seat backs, with the console screens serving the first-row right-hand-side and second-row middle passengers. Each passenger has not only full video and internet access via the vehicle's secure in-car WiFi network and the ability to link up to the smart-glass data from the windows, but can also, thanks to embedded cameras above each screen, video-call any other passenger seated in the Discovery Vision Concept, and talk in a natural face-to-face manner without having to twist rearward. The tablet dock integrated into the seatback folding trays also allows personal smartphones and tablets to be hooked up to the vehicle's system. The screens can be operated with hand gestures - for instance, swiping a hand left or right to change the mode, or rotating a finger to increase or decrease the volume.

GESTURE CONTROL
A number of other functions in the Discovery Vision Concept are also controlled by intuitive gestures, which is the next generation of HMI technology. Jaguar Land Rover's researchers have developed carefully calibrated motion sensors that precisely recognize designated hand or finger movements, thus eliminating the chance of unintentional triggering of functions. In addition to the passenger infotainment systems, gestures open and close the vehicle's doors and tailgate, operate the lights and turn signals, activate the rotary gearshift control, and dim and brighten the cabin lighting.