When fiction becomes fact

IN the world of James Bond, we have vehicles that can be driven remotely from your iPhone and become invisible, or have gesture-activated controls with laser positioning sensors, but that’s just fiction right? Wrong! The new Land Rover Concept is here.

Showcased at the New York Motor show, Land Rover prove the future is here with their Discovery Vision Concept. It boasts remote drive, an ‘invisible’ bonnet that allows the driver to ‘see through’ the car to the ground, laser positioning sensors, and ‘gesture-controlled’ doors.

Land Rover’s latest concept car might not look radical from the outside, but inside it boasts a range of outlandish gadgets that would make James Bond proud. The most Q-like advance in the Concept is remote-control drive, which allows anyone to drive the vehicle ‘at very low speed’ using a smartphone, tablet or the car’s removable console while not actually seated inside it.

The ‘see through’ bonnet combines cameras in the grille and jet-fighter style head-up display technology on the windscreen. The idea being that while driving up a steep rocky incline, you will be able to see what is directly under your front wheels.

The ‘see through’ bonnet meanwhile combines cameras in the grille and jet-fighter style head-up display technology on the windscreen. The idea being that while driving up a steep rocky incline, you will be able to see what is directly under your front wheels.

Other features include a laser positioning sensor system which will effectively map the terrain in front of you and relay that to an on-screen display on the dash board. This system also includes ´depth´ so that mud holes and rivers can be judged before entry.

The new Discovery is the latest model announced by prolific Jaguar Land Rover, which is experiencing its greatest ever period. Sales and profits are increasing thanks to models like the Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar F-Type.

The company is also investing billions in research and development, and the hard work is paying off. Last year it delivered 425,000 vehicles, an increase of 19 per cent.