DISCOVERY: A NEW BEGINNING
In the 25 years since its launch, the Land Rover Discovery has
carved an enviable reputation for itself - from deserts, jungles
and barren peaks, where its unrivalled capability sees it through
the harshest terrain, to cities and country tracks worldwide, where
its distinctive blend of spacious design and innovative versatility
have made it a global success, winning numerous awards and clocking
up impressive sales figures.
The Discovery shaped the 4x4 leisure segment and, over the
course of a generation, became synonymous with it. Always a
trend-setting pioneer, the Discovery is now on a journey of
transformation and is set to change the face of the next generation
too.
From 2015 onwards, the Discovery nameplate will be borne by not
just a single model but a distinct range of vehicles that symbolize
the essence of the premium, lifestyle-orientated SUV: modern,
versatile, practical and desirable, with the unmistakable DNA of
Land Rover at its core.
As Range Rover has done in the luxury SUV sector, the Discovery
nameplate will come to redefine its territory in the leisure
category. With the best designed and most premium, practical,
versatile vehicles in their class, the future Discovery range is
set to fundamentally enhance the way drivers around the world take
on the adventure of modern life.
DISCOVERY VISION CONCEPT: DESIGNING THE
FUTURE
The Discovery Concept is a vision into the future of Land
Rover's new family of leisure vehicles. It is a vision of a premium
and thoroughly modern lifestyle vehicle - a highly desirable
interpretation of our well established Discovery nameplate, with a
strong focus on relevant versatility and compelling design. This
will truly resonate with customers while respecting the established
values of Discovery's unique heritage.
With its optimised volume and proportions, dramatic silhouette
and overall modernity inside and out, this concept is a radical
departure from Discovery as we know it - and yet, its unique DNA is
evident, with the stepped roof, alpine lights, command driving
position and stadium seating all working in harmony to create a
vehicle that acknowledges its roots, whilst firmly looking
forward.
Though a full-size SUV, the Discovery Vision Concept looks
remarkably compact. This has been achieved through a combination of
well-considered design elements such as wrap-around headlamps and
tail lamps and the short front and rear overhangs serving to reduce
the visual length. The headlamps utilise advanced laser technology
to generate incredibly bright, far-reaching beams of light, paired
with LED daytime running lights. Slim foglamps on either side of
the prominent undershield are capable of emitting both infrared and
coloured lasers, which assist in the Laser Terrain Scanning and
Laser Referencing functions.
In profile, the Discovery Vision Concept's raised beltline
alludes to the incredible levels of space available inside. The
doors are operated by gesture control, and, with no need for
handles, the resulting clean, beautifully crafted surfaces and the
flush, tight gaps between their interfaces further impart a sense
of modernity.
The slim, aerodynamic wing mirrors have embedded cameras, which
augment the view of the driver through the windows, providing an
extended field of vision while parking and reversing. Just below
the doors, sill steps on either side automatically deploy to
facilitate occupants' entry and exit, with LED lighting to
illuminate the ground being stepped onto.
The body coloured C-pillar, the stepped roof flowing into the
alpine lights and the distinctive asymmetrical graphic element on
the rear number plate also references its Discovery heritage.
The Discovery Concept takes a thoroughly modern view but also
acknowledges the need to evolve specific Discovery elements such as
the split tailgate which has evolved on the Discovery concept to a
highly flexible new tailgate design incorporating a social seat
system in the vehicle's loadspace area.
The gesture-controlled, electrically powered, single-piece
tailgate is paired with an event platform, which electrically
deploys from within the rear bumper, just above the rear
undershield. The Vision Concept has sleek horizontal tail lamps and
vertical foglamps, and as at the front, the rear window also
features hidden wipers, neatly concealed under the rear
spoiler.
The concept car, which is painted in a Tribeca Grey finish, is
fitted with bespoke 23-inch split-five-spoke Aero Viper alloy
wheels with a bright silver turned finish.
INTERIOR: INNOVATION AND VERSATILITY
COMBINED
The interior of the Discovery Vision Concept is a dynamic blend
of form, colour and material, striking in its clean, modern visual
simplicity. It has been carefully crafted to deliver enormous
levels of spaciousness and an open, airy feel for all occupants,
while still cocooning them in an environment that feels cosy and
secure.
With a brief to create the ultimate leisure space, Land Rover's
design team has created a warm and welcoming interior, crafted in
Nimbus and Navy premium leather, open pore grey wood veneer and
polished and brushed aluminium finishes. The large glasshouse and
panoramic roof let in plenty of light and afford clear views out,
while the vehicle's high beltline creates a feeling of
security.
The Discovery Vision Concept seats seven full-size adults in
great comfort, in a 2+3+2 layout across three rows. Every passenger
is catered for equally, with plenty of headroom and legroom and
access to storage, infotainment and accessories.
The Discovery Vision Concept maintains the command driving
position, within an airy cockpit that gives excellent visibility.
Flowing lines and warmly textured materials tastefully complement
clean, futuristic technology interfaces. The steering wheel
incorporates two small OLED touchscreens to operate the
infotainment system, and with turn signals and headlamp functions
operated by gesture control, indicator stalks are absent, creating
more visual space and less clutter around the driver. This also
affords a clear view of the instrument cluster, which features a
high-definition screen with a 3-million-pixel resolution for
incredibly vivid, sharp imagery.
The top of the fascia has a leather-wrapped aerofoil-shaped
structure for a light, minimalist appearance. The swooping form of
the fascia's central 'arm' encases two high-resolution
touchscreens, which display the vehicle's system menus. The lower
touchscreen flips up to reveal a storage binnacle with an induction
pad for easy, cable-free recharging of smartphones. Further down
along the console is a rotary gearshift control, which deploys and
rises into the driver's hand as it approaches, and a secondary
rotary which controls functions such as Terrain Response and Tow
Assist. This secondary rotary can detached and taken out of the
vehicle to operate Remote Control Drive.
The seats have a sculpted, wrap-around effect, with bolstered
leather wrapped around the frame for a minimalist yet solid
structural appearance. The third-row seats get their own colour:
Navy leather, in contrast to the other five seats, which are made
from Nimbus leather. This visual separation helps create a
personalised ambience for the third-row passengers. All seven seats
feature Sky Blue contrast stitching.
Built to take the demands of family life, the Discovery Vision
Concept's cabin is finished in Foglizzo H20w, an innovative premium
leather that is specially treated to make it completely washable,
while the Nubuck inserts on the first- and second-row seats feature
Foglizzo H203 treatment that makes them totally oil- and
water-repellent, to protect against spills. Soft and beautiful, yet
highly durable, the Foglizzo leather is very easily washed and
cleaned, making it the perfect solution for an uncompromisingly
active lifestyle.
A SkyLight cabin light is incorporated into the structural
cross-beam that spans the panoramic roof. Providing an even, warm
spread of light, it can be activated and brightened or dimmed with
a gesture. Gentle orange lighting in the doors and floors further
enhances the ambience of the interior.
INNOVATIVE VERSATILITY
Versatility and practicality have always been fundamental
aspects of the Discovery, and every facet of the Discovery Vision
Concept's carefully considered design reflects a sense of
thoughtful innovation.
The Discovery Vision Concept's reconfigurable seating system
perfectly represents this philosophy. The seats in the second and
third rows are able to slide backwards and forwards fully, both
independently and as a complete row, fitting flush with the seat
ahead or behind them ('theatre-fold'). The seat can also fold down
flat, with the seatback effectively becoming a table surface
('table-fold'). Thus, with varying combinations of theatre-fold and
table-fold seats, it is possible to create differing configurations
for convenience and comfort - all easily selected from the menu on
the console touchscreen. Possible configurations include:
- 7-seat mode: Standard seating for seven adults in three
rows.
- 6-seat-mode: Second row middle seat in table-fold; more
convenience for the second-row outboard-seat passengers.
- 5-seat mode: Both second-row outboard seats in table-fold (more
convenience for the middle-seat passenger) or both third-row seats
in theatre-fold with the second row (plenty of extra load
space).
- 4-seat, or 'limousine' mode: Second row outboard seats in full
theatre-fold with the front seats, and the second row middle seat
in table-fold. Two passengers seated in the third row seats enjoy
huge amounts of legroom.
In addition, the back of each seat not only contains a
gesture-controlled infotainment screen with a wide variety of
functions, but also packs numerous convenience features such as
integrated pop-out coat hangers, fold-out tray tables and tablet
docking ports.
With a nod to the original Discovery and its Conran
Design-inspired cubby-bag which clipped into the centre console,
the Discovery Vision Concept features detachable travel luggage
smartly integrated into the doors, so that passengers can save
having to pack and carry a suitcase and load it into the boot. The
high-quality hard cases clip straight into the insides of the
doors, and once detached, can be taken away from the vehicle like a
regular stroller bag, as they have wheels in their bases and
extendable handles. Accessories such as picnic blankets, sleeping
blankets and cushions, are designed to enhance leisure
activities.
They are handcrafted by Sula and made with material woven by
Harris Tweed, exuding British quality and workmanship.
The Discovery Vision Concept's social seating platform is
another elegant manifestation of the Land Rover designers' mission
to maximise versatility. The social seat is deployed from under the
boot floor. When initially extended, it forms a platform for
activity. When further folded out, it becomes a bench that can be
used by all to sit on.
Used in conjunction with the powered single-piece tailgate, which
opens up fully to serve as a canopy, and the deployable event
platform, which can serve as a viewing platform to stand on, the
social seating system supports a variety of outdoor leisure
activities, from picnics and watching the polo to changing kids'
muddy rugby kit. With conversion attachments, the sill step can
also be used as a mounted bike/ski rack when the vehicle is on the
move.
PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY
The Discovery Vision Concept is packed full of pioneering
technology that is being developed by Jaguar Land Rover: technology
of incredible intelligence and capability, that makes the driver
and passenger experience alike safer, smarter, more connected and
more engaging than ever.
Laser headlamps
The Discovery Vision Concept's headlamps feature laser diodes in
combination with LED running lights. Laser light is the next
generation of automotive lighting technology. These lights utilise
laser-activated phosphor projection to emit a very bright and even
beam of pure white light. The power of the laser light beam adds a
distance of over 300 metres to the range of the headlight, and the
quality of the light itself is closer to daylight - smooth and
clean, with no patchiness or speckling - than any other type of
artificial light, all of which makes for excellent and greatly
enhanced visibility on the road.
Further, Jaguar Land Rover's intelligent dipping and tracking
technology uses hi-definition cameras to automatically detect and
assess oncoming traffic, instantly dipping the relevant parts of
the light beam to avoid glare to other road users, and adjusting
the rest of the beam to maintain perfect visibility in all driving
situations.
By immensely boosting driver confidence and decreasing fatigue,
reducing glare and avoiding the need to take one's hands off the
wheel to operate the dip function, laser headlamps aim to make a
huge difference to the automotive landscape by vastly increasing
road safety. Additionally, laser lights have the added advantage of
also being very compact - a tenth the size of LEDs - which opens up
numerous design and engineering possibilities.
Smart Glass & Passenger HMI
The Discovery Vision Concept also previews a truly futuristic
technology that will radically transform the user experience for
drivers and passengers alike: smart glass. This state-of-the-art
glass is capable of displaying imagery, like a computer screen -
but is otherwise entirely transparent, like regular glass. Smart
glass is used in the entire glasshouse of the Discovery Vision
Concept - in all the windows, the panoramic roof and, allied to
Head-Up Display (HUD) technology, in the windscreen - and opens up
a world of exciting possibilities.
Augmented reality involves overlaying real-time information onto
the view of the surroundings as seen through the windows by the
driver or passengers. The smart glass in the window can work in
conjunction with eye-tracking sensors and the vehicle's sat-nav
system to identify that, for instance, a passing landmark is being
observed by one of the vehicle's passengers - and displays relevant
information, such as navigation or tourist data, to that passenger.
That information can then be swiped from the window directly into a
passenger's seatback infotainment screen, or - adding in the
functionality of passengers' personal devices - even to a docked
tablet or smartphone,
The image projection properties of smart glass also enhance the
view through the windows; for instance, bay parking, reversing
around corners or parking a trailer is made easier by projecting
camera feeds onto the driver's view out of the smart-glass window,
broadening the field of vision.
The graphical properties of smart glass enhance ambience and
privacy controls; the window can be dimmed with infinite gradation
or completely blacked out with the swipe of a finger, while the
panoramic roof also has the option of displaying screensaver-style
'mood screens'. From a soothing starry night sky as you drive
through a city to a clear blue summer sky on a winter's evening -
the smart glass on the panoramic roof lets you set the mood.
The Discovery Vision Concept emphasises a great infotainment
experience for all passengers. Individual 10-inch high-resolution
screens are fitted into four of the seat backs, with the console
screens serving the first-row right-hand-side and second-row middle
passengers. Each passenger has not only full video and internet
access via the vehicle's secure in-car WiFi network and the ability
to link up to the smart-glass data from the windows, but can also,
thanks to embedded cameras above each screen, video-call any other
passenger seated in the Discovery Vision Concept, and talk in a
natural face-to-face manner without having to twist rearward. The
tablet dock integrated into the seatback folding trays also allows
personal smartphones and tablets to be hooked up to the vehicle's
system. The screens can be operated with hand gestures - for
instance, swiping a hand left or right to change the mode, or
rotating a finger to increase or decrease the volume.
Gesture Control
A number of other functions in the Discovery Vision Concept are
also controlled by intuitive gestures, which is the next generation
of HMI technology. Jaguar Land Rover's researchers have developed
carefully calibrated motion sensors that precisely recognise
designated hand or finger movements, thus eliminating the chance of
unintentional triggering of functions. In addition to the passenger
infotainment systems, gestures open and close the vehicle's doors
and tailgate, operate the lights and turn signals, activate the
rotary gearshift control, and dim and brighten the cabin
lighting.
UNSURPASSED ALL-TERRAIN CAPABILITY
The Discovery, beloved of rutted roads and green lanes across
the world, has a proud history of successfully tackling gruelling
overland expeditions - most recently, the Journey of Discovery in
2012, where the one-millionth Discovery to be built was driven
8,000 miles from Birmingham to Beijing, China.
The Discovery Vision Concept carries forward this tradition: from
its design and build to the capability of its technical systems, it
is not just every inch a Land Rover, but has the most advanced
capability of any Land Rover, ever. The Discovery Vision Concept
shows the direction of cutting-edge all-terrain technologies
developed by Land Rover, which, from motorways to mountaintops,
deliver the best functionality whatever the terrain.
Remote Control Drive
This feature enables the driver to manoeuvre the car at very low
speed while not actually seated inside it, via the removable
secondary rotary on the centre console, as well as via a smartphone
or tablet. Applications include:
- extreme off-roading, where it is sometimes safer and easier to
inch the vehicle over obstacles from an outside vantage point,
- coupling to a trailer, or
- driving through gates, where the driver can avoid repeatedly
getting in and out of the vehicle by simply opening the gate and
letting the vehicle drive through via Remote Control Drive, before
shutting the gate and re-entering the vehicle.
Remote Control Drive has a simple, easy-to-use interface,
encrypted access and operation only via the vehicle's localised
WiFi, putting the power of autonomous vehicle control safely and
securely in the driver's hands.
Laser Terrain Scanning
Another enhancement to the driver's capability is Laser Terrain
Scanning. The Discovery Vision Concept's foglamps are capable of
emitting infrared lasers, and these are used to scan the ground
ahead, map the terrain and display the mapped imagery on the
hi-definition cluster screen, providing the driver a vital visual
reference and helping him understand the lay of the land while
driving in challenging off-road conditions.
Laser Referencing
Both on and off the road, the Discovery Vision Concept's laser
technology capability offers an additional resource: Laser
Referencing. Here, the laser light is tuned to specific colours in
the visible spectrum and used to project visible images onto the
road. This has numerous useful applications, including projecting
warning triangles onto the tarmac behind the car for other
motorists to see in the event of a stoppage, or projecting
reference points onto roads, walls or any terrain, in order to help
the driver to judge tight gaps and to park or drive in congested
spaces.
Transparent Bonnet
Another way of providing the driver with enhanced visibility and a
greater understanding of the terrain is Land Rover's innovative
Transparent Bonnet system. Cameras under the vehicle's grille send
video of the terrain being traversed, projecting it to the Head-Up
Display in the windscreen. By overlaying the imagery through the
driver's line of sight on the HUD covering the bonnet area, the
system effectively creates a 'see-through' bonnet view of the
terrain and the direction of the front wheels, thus improving
visibility and enhancing driver confidence.
Terrain Response
The next generation of Land Rover's iconic multi-mode
terrain-tackling system links up and networks all these advanced
capability technologies, as well as Hill Descent Control, wet grass
traction control, auto hi/lo, Low Speed Steering Assist and Wade
Aid.
Terrain Response not only analyses the type of terrain being
traversed - snow, ice, mud, grass, water, rocks, ruts, tarmac,
gravel, sand, inclines and so on - but also proactively anticipates
upcoming terrain via Laser Terrain Scanning and forward-facing
camera sensors, and instantly engages the appropriate system to
best respond to that type of terrain and situation.
Wade Aid is a new sensory wading system that uses lasers to
judge the depth of water ahead before the vehicle even begins to
wade, and informs the driver of the feasibility of the intended
wading manoeuvre.
The Discovery Vision Concept's all-terrain capability enables
differing levels of driving enhancement:
- All Terrain Progress Control: A low-speed all-terrain cruise
control that vectors torque to enable semi-autonomous off-road
driving at a steady speed.
- All Terrain Coach: for the more manually inclined. Here, the
driver chooses from a menu the type of terrain being traversed and
then gets a recommendation as to which off-road system ought to be
activated for the best response.
- Enhanced All Terrain Coach: marks a specific route across a
terrain map rendered on the console display via Terrain Scanning,
and suggests the appropriate systems to help navigate it
step-by-step.
The systems on the Discovery Vision Concept offer multiple
levels of autonomy, so that the driver always has the choice to be
engaged and involved with the terrain just as much as desired or
needed.
By enabling better vision and decision-making, they aim to
provide the driver with more of the right information at the right
time, helping progress through seemingly impassable terrain, and
leading to more confidence, security and enjoyment on any
terrain.
Follow the excitement as the story continues to unfold over the
next two weeks on Land Rover's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
pages and join the conversation using #ReadyToDiscover.
Land Rover Australia's social media links -
https://www.facebook.com/LandRoverAustralia
https://twitter.com/LandRoverAus
http://instagram.com/landroveraus#
Note to editors:
The New York International Motor Show opens its doors for Press Day
on Wednesday 16th April
Since 1948 Land Rover has been manufacturing authentic 4x4s that
represent true 'breadth of capability' across the model range.
Defender, Freelander, Discovery, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover and
Range Rover Evoque each define the world's 4x4 sectors, with 80% of
this model range exported to over 170 countries.
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