Why Byton could be the sleeper hit of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show

An electric SUV from a newly launched car company called Byton could steal the show at CES 2018 next week.

Created by Chinese startup Future Mobility, the Byton brand’s first car will be an “intelligent electric car” that will be available in China in 2019 before making its way over to Europe and the US.

Now neither electric or autonomous cars are particularly new. But the Byton SUV is touting 310 miles of range from a single charge that makes it competitive with a Tesla Model 3, while also offering level 5 autonomous driving, the highest rung of self-driving a car can achieve whereby a driver completely relinquishes control over to the car.

All this is packed into a rather slick looking SUV body that has similar design ques to a Jaguar F-Pace with rear lights and a swept back roof.

The Byton’s nose is particularly noteworthy with what appears to be crystal like LED headlamps and an striking illuminated bumper pattern.

But it’s the interior that’s a real visual treat for tech fans. A massive 50-inch wide and 8-inch tall widescreen display takes up the dashboard and infotainment parts of the interior, offering touch controls for all manner of car functions ranging from climate control to accessing videos and browsing contacts.

The display looks to be just the thing to provide entertainment and information for the driver and passengers to peruse while the car is in self-driving mode.

A large tablet like display also sits in the steering wheel and looks to serve up navigation information.

While we have no word on the rear entertainment and tech, the interior looks to be pretty comfortable and has a clean, modern aesthetic.

With all that tech onboard you’d be forgiven for thinking the Byton would chew through its battery power pretty quickly and then be stuck as a charging point for hours on end before it can get going again. But Byton claims to have worked to reduce charging times.

“That is exactly what we are about to achieve. In the time it takes you to enjoy a cup of coffee, the battery will get enough charge for a whole week of urban commuting,” the new company said.

The Byton is set to be priced for mass market appeal, so we’ll be interested to see if all the tech and autonomous driving features is promises can really make it to the production line.

In the meantime it’s set to attract a good bit of attention at CES; stick with Trusted Reviews for all the latest from the Las Vegas tech show.

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