Italian automotive design firm, Icona Design Group has made its Indian debut at the Auto Expo 2020 with its driverless electric car, Icona Nucleus.
Icona Nucleus has fully autonomous driving with Level 5 capabilities taking it two generations ahead of the current automobile. This means there won’t be a need for a driver and you will find neither a steering wheel nor a dashboard in the car.
The Nucleus measures 5.25 meters in length, 2.12 meters in width and stands 1.75 meters tall. With an aerodynamic drag coefficient just under 0.22, the Nucleus wins the battle with rolling resistance and energy consumption. The self-driving electric vehicle features in-wheel motor technology that helps optimize the space inside, while the car can travel up to 1200 km with its combination of battery and hydrogen tanks.
The Icona Nucleus can effortlessly accommodate six people and the seats can be adjusted to different uses, rotating to face the desk or the rear passengers in the front, strongly reclining to the rear and even transforming into a couch.
As an autonomous vehicle, the Nucleus does not have a side glass as you would find in a traditional MPV. The car has semi-transparent body colour panels that allow the occupants to get a view of the outside from the vehicle but remain shrouded for privacy while travelling. The upper glass from the windscreen to the complete roof is asymmetrical, split into a fully-transparent and semitransparent glass.
India has a population of 1.2 billion people and the demand for the car is going to increase very soon. At the same time, they will jump from internal combustion engines to electric engines and new players will come into the market. We want to be there when that happens. Therefore we are participating in the New Delhi Auto Expo to not just make our presence known but also to showcase our know-how and competencies.
Teresio Gigi Gaudio, Chairman & CEO, Icona Design Group.