As the Consumer Electronics Show approaches, more and more teasers are being released to get us all hyped up for the neat new technology about to be showcased. Byton, an EV marque looking to become a more down-to-earth version of Tesla, is set to talk about a brand new technology it’s introducing: a driver tablet mounted in the middle of their steering wheel.
While the details of the system are being kept quiet until they actually debut at CES, an image released of the M-Byte’s interior includes a tablet mounted in the steering wheel, which appears to enable easy access to all the buttons on the dashboard you fiddle around with, like radio and climate control. It also features an icon for apps, which sounds like a Very Big Distraction to me.
The whole tablet-in-steering-wheel thing raises a lot of questions that have yet to be answered—like, where the hell do the airbags go? What are the benefits of a tablet as opposed to an infotainment system or Byton’s huge center-mounted screens? Are there any special safety measures in place to protect your face against all that glass mounted in the dash, or are drivers just not supposed to crash?
Those details are likely to come on January 6th. All we know for now is that the M-Byte is set to go into production in China later in 2019. It should make its way to the United States in 2020 at a decently cost-effective base of $45,000.