Byton reveals its concept car at CES 2018- a rival to Tesla

The Byton, a concept SUV car designed by former BMW and Apple employees attracted a lot of attention in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A future smart car, which runs on electricity, of course, boasts a 49-inch screen covering the entire dashboard. The car has 5G internet connection, virtual assistant and when it runs on self-drive mode, the front seats can turn towards each other by 12 degrees enabling the passenger and the driver to chat. There is a 10-inch screen tablet on the steering wheel where the driver can make all the selections with gestures.  

Byton, whose name refers to bytes on wheels, is a startup which is fuelled by Chinese investors.  And unlike many Chinese cars, this car is not speed oriented but is technology oriented with all the technologies massed into a single car. The cameras inside the car will determine who the driver is and loads the profile, and even changes the likely seat position and other customizations.

Headquartered in China, Byton plans to launch the car in the late 2019 and later in the US and Europe. As of now, they plan to sell it at 45,000 dollars. This price is way lesser than higher end Model X but ten thousand dollars more than Model 3. But people who cannot wait for Model 3, considering the Tesla’s difficulty in meeting the production targets, this car would be a good bargain.

But one serious hurdle Byton is facing to compete with Tesla is the lack of charging stations. While Tesla has 8496 stations around the globe, Byton has none. But on the brighter side, Tesla has appeared to agree on sharing the charging stations but at a reasonable cost.