In september last year, Renault presented the Symbioz on the IAA in Frankfurt.
A huge concept car filled to the brim with autonomous technologies, which could be integrated in your home in all kinds of ways.
A driving living room really. Today, the brand goes one step further.
From the design centre in Paris, they've presented the EZ-GO.
It's a car which is autonomous and electric as well, but in contrast to the Symbioz,
this isn't a car which you should want, but a vehicle which you want to use.
And what better place to talk about a driving living room, than in that driving living room itself.
That's why we're walking across this station, which we'll talk about in a short bit,
and of course, we'll be talking with Laurens van den Acker,
Renault's chief of design. Let's take a seat, shall we?
Sure.
Right, we just got in, so we'll have to talk about the entry.
I moved my head a little, but that isn't necessary right? - Nope, that's right.
We could just walk in here. Explain to me, why and how?
Well, we've been looking into the easiest ways of getting people into a car, with luggage and all.
We soon concluded doors on the side aren't handy. You'll get out on a street, cars driving all around you.
A car which opens up at the front, enables you to just walk in.
We thought that was fantastic. You can just walk in, put your stuff down,
you take a seat and you find yourself in a U-shaped space. You can easily take a seat and talk with people.
It fits the values at Renault. Sharing spaces, enjoying the views around the city you're driving in.
If you ask me, this is more than just a car.
In a way that a car is a mode of transport. This is a way of getting from A to B.
How important are brand values, especially if they're seen from a designer point of view.
Well, we're looking at a future where robotic vehicles are reality. Think of cars from Ford, Volkswagen, Renault and other brands.
So why would you get into one of our cars? You see a lot of robotic vehicles which look like telecabines on wheels.
As if they cut a piece from the subway, put some wheels underneath it and you get in.
Being a French manufacturer, we've got bigger ambitions to create something which could act as a city symbol.
Just like you've got the Yellow Cabs in New York, or the Black Cabs in London.
Undoubtedly, there will be lots of new forms of robotic taxi's, and amongst them will be very efficient, functional boxes on wheels.
Probably, Renault will do something like that as well, but since we were already dreaming, we've thought of something more ambitious.
The EZ-GO is specifically designed for car sharing programs, in which the car drives through cities and you can get in and out at any given time.
That's a sore point for car owners, because owning and driving a car are the things...
which make cars special for car enthusiasts.
Still, this EZ-GO is very interesting, because if a car doesn't have to be driven anymore,
and if a car has to be very accessible for everyone, it means that the concept of a car changes.
It enables more possibilities than traditional cars. It's now at a special station,
but it could be on the street as well. It could lower the tailgate so you can walk right in.
On the inside, you'll find a kind of living room in an U-shape, but it's not like anything you've seen before in a car.
It's a cosy and spacious kind of travelling, in which you sit across each other and enjoy the surroundings.
That way, you can travel to your destination in total luxury.
If I look at this, there are some seatbelt-like things available,
but in the end, you're sideways on a couch.
Is that safe?
We're expecting technologies like this will find their places in the cities.
Autonomous technologies are being developed because...
because we think they're safer than people.
What's the pinnacle of this car for you personally?
I think the way of entry is very cool. Getting into a car remains a strange phenomenon,
in which you have to bend yourself in all kinds of ways, just to get into your seat.
In here, we just have to walk inside, just like we did.
You store your things, you take a seat... It's like coming home.
That level of comfort... I've never seen that on a real car.
Will the passengers get wet when the door opens? - I don't think so actually...
Maybe a little? - Especially not in France. I mean it never rains there, right?
At first sight, it might seem to be a far-fetched future vision.
The design might be, but Renault believes in that concept.
They're not the only ones either. Every motor show is full of autonomous, car-sharing vehicles.
Renault does have a mission. It should be able to get into an autonomous car from the Renault Group...
in 2022, which takes you from A to B without a driver.
That might not be in this form, but perhaps in a modified existing model.
Renault also doesn't know how big that fleet will be, but they've set the date: 2022.
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