Panasonic has been on the fringes of the automotive industry for some time with various deals and partnerships, the biggest one being with Tesla and its Gigafactory. But it would appear the company is making its own plans, if this spy shot sent to us supposedly from next week’s CES venue is anything to go by.
Our anonymous tipster didn’t have any other information about what this car is exactly.
Considering the model doesn’t appear to have any actual doors, it could be some sort of demonstration model for interior technology, like the company brought to CES last year. It may also be some sort of autonomous or electric urban transport vehicle that’s just meant to shuttle people around local street networks.
Last year’s demo from Panasonic focused on an autonomous vehicle interior and its user interface, with giant tablet screens, bench seating with a centered table, and showed off features like facial recognition and augmented reality windows.
Whatever this new concept is, it’s a surprise. But something tells me it’s going to be more of a demonstration model again, and not a full package we’d ever see making it to the streets. We’ll find out next week!
Update, Jan. 5, 2018 2:00 p.m.: A new tip sent in to Jalopnik claims the vehicle is called the “Living Space Autonomous Cabin” and has two front “captain’s chairs” in a big seating area, making it seemingly likely that it’s just an exhibition of interior design concepts.
This post has been tweaked to reflect that our source informed us the picture was taken at the CES venue, but we haven’t yet confirmed with Panasonic.