Byton unveils K-Byte self-driving electric car
Califonia-based Chinese startup electric car company Byton has unveiled its second vehicle at CES Asia 2018 in Shanghai using a sedan body after unveiling its first car in CES 2018.
Called the K-Byte, it showcases more of the company’s upcoming technology to be put into its future production cars worthy to rival the electric car giant Tesla, following the launch of the M-Byte crossover SUV that was unveiled last CES 2018.
For starters, the company has partnered with self-driving car company Aurora to make the K-Byte ready for autonomous driving, using the technology which was also implemented in vehicles from Volkswagen and Hyundai. Lidar units are mounted on the front and rear windows, as well as on the side drums of the left and right fenders, which aid in navigation more effectively than conventional radar units. “You could think about an approach where you try to hide the sensors, or use them as design elements,” Byton CEO Carsten Breitfeld said in a statement.
Byton hasn’t commented further on the range or the possible specs it will have, but the company is keen to keep up with other startup electric car manufacturers such as Faraday Future or Lucid, or even large-scale names, such as Tesla, thanks in part with the Chinese government’s support and $500-million funding from investors.
“This might sound a bit arrogant now, but we are making a claim for the design leadership in the car industry,” Breitfeld added.
He added that a minivan offering will be followed after the SUV and the sedan, albeit rather early to do so. He said that the M-Byte SUV will first see production at the end of 2019.
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