While its official debut came a few months ago at Auto Shanghai 2019, the Karma Automotive SC1 Vision hasn’t made its way stateside—at least, not yet. If you’re headed to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, you’ll find this bad boy at on the Concept Lawn.
Karma is calling this the “Vision” because the intention here is to incorporate the design language of this concept into future vehicles—a pretty awesome idea, if you ask me, because there are some pretty damn cool features on the electric roadster concept.
The exterior itself is lush in a way that hearkens back to the 1930s while somehow still looking modern as hell. The lack of roof, long nose, low-slung windshield and rear humps are the kind of curves you just don’t expect from cars nowadays. But then come the scissor doors and huge wheels, and boom—modern.
The interior is where it’s really at, though. It looks almost like the cockpit of a race car, what with its carbon fiber and separation between driver and passenger. There’s a screen on each side of the dashboard, which makes a lot of sense here, given the fact that the interior is pretty much split down the middle.
We’re getting more of a taste of the technological capabilities of the car this time, too. From Karma’s press release:
The SC1 Vision Concept seamlessly integrates a new infotainment architecture with 5G connectivity and a humanized communication system with touch, voice, eye and graphical interfaces. Artificial Intelligence understands conventional language and commands, while a camera-based eye tracking system is capable of biometric identification, allowing for the multi-modal authentication of occupants. The eye-tracking system monitors a driver’s irises, eyelids and gaze – should the driver become distracted or fatigued, AI safely takes control of the vehicle.
With the help of eight radars, six Lidar sensors, and half dozen external cameras, the SC1 Vision Concept is readied for autonomous driving in the future, with cityscape and points of interest displayed in augmented reality. Both driver and passenger can immerse themselves in comfort with an all-new surround audio system with dedicated sound environments for both driver and passenger. Karma will soon offer audio capabilities similar to the SC1 Vision Concept’s system through the company’s guided customization program.
At its most basic, this isn’t anything we haven’t heard before, necessarily—plenty of automakers like Tesla and GM are advertising as part of their autonomous technologies. But the AI big makes it pretty interesting. I know I’d rather just talk to my car to make it do something than have to mess around on the ever more complicated infotainment screens.
And then, of course, most cars that are pushing the boundaries of autonomous and AI tech don’t look as damn cool as the SC1 Vision Concept does. It’ll definitely fit right in at Pebble Beach.
[h/t Autoblog]