China’s EV startup Byton has revealed
new details about its first production model at the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) in Las Vegas. As previewed by the namesake concept last year, Byton’s M-Byte SUV
will pack a monumental display — and now we learn exactly how big it is. When
it enters production in late 2019, the M-Byte will feature the world’s largest
in-car display for a production automobile.
That’s a 48-inch Shared Experience Display (SED)
digital cockpit spanning almost the entire width of the dashboard — the
equivalent of seven tablets or 24 smartphones. The huge screen will act as the
primary display for vehicle information such as speed, battery charge, driving
range, navigation maps and more. It will also be used to display multimedia
content for entertainment, as well as productivity and health monitoring.
The big question here is obviously whether the
curved screen will be distracting to use. Well, Byton insists it won’t. “The
position of the display has been carefully developed and tested to not affect
driver line-of-sight and can automatically adjust brightness according to
changes in ambient lighting to avoid further distraction,” reads the press
release.
As if the humungous dash display wasn’t enough, the
M-Byte SUV also packs two additional screens. There’s a 7-inch Driver Tablet
placed right at the center of the steering wheel, just above the driver airbag.
This screen serves as one of the main interfaces for the driver to configure
the vehicle and interact with the SED. Yes, you read that right: the driver
will need to use a screen to control another screen. Thankfully, the Driver
Tablet doesn’t rotate with the steering wheel.
Then there’s an 8-inch Touch Pad located between the
driver and the front passenger seats. This screen enables the front passenger
to control the SED and “enjoy the same interactive experience as the driver.”
And that’s not all. Rear passengers also have access to independent rear-seat
entertainment screens that also share content with the SED. What happened to
people talking to each other? The M-Byte will go into mass-production in late 2019 and should
launch in the U.S. in 2020
Compared to the study showcased at CES 2018, the
M-Byte production model gains a new wraparound design for the dashboard with
the vents, gear selector, and other hard buttons located in the center along
with a driver monitoring system.
Speaking of that, the M-Byte offers Level 3
semi-autonomous driving tech with Byton’s eventual goal being to build “mobile
digital lounges” that will drive themselves. The M-Byte will be packed full
with tech including built-in 5G support and artificial intelligence via the
Byton Byte OS that integrates Amazon Alexa.
The M-Byte crossover will be fully revealed in
mid-2019 and will enter production in Nanjing, China before the end of the
year. Byton will sell two versions, an entry-level RWD model with a 71kWh
battery pack enabling 400 km of range and an AWD variant with a
95kWh battery and a range of 520 km. The goal is to offer the base
model from US$ 45,000 in the United States.
