Leading global technology company Letv and luxury sports car brand Aston Martin has revealed the first results of their collaboration - an Aston Martin Rapide S incorporating the latest Letv Internet of the Vehicle (IOV) system at the Consumer Electronics Show here.
Aston Martin and Letv signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on December 3, 2015 to confirm research projects that include the development of connected electric vehicles through to manufacturing consultation on future electric vehicles.
The ideation and engineering of the Aston Martin Rapide S project has been led by the Letv IOV team and has focused on a new concept for the center console and instrument panel. The center console is now a 13.3 inch HD touch screen and the instrument panel is now a 12.2 inch thin-film transistor (TFT) screen incorporating electronic instrumentation and gauges.
The original human-machine interaction (HMI) has also been updated by integrating Letv's latest speech recognition technology.
Letv first showed its Autolink system in November 2015, the first time the technology company had released a product specifically developed for automotive applications. The collaboration with Aston Martin on the Rapide S further demonstrates the capabilities of the Letv global open auto eco-system. The Aston Martin Rapide S concept has been engineered to work with Letv's other devices and will include remote monitoring and services with the support of LeCloud through the vehicles Wi-Fi system.
Commenting on the significance of the reveal, Ding Lei, co-founder, global vice chairman and China and Asia Pacific CEO of Letv Super Car, said, "After a few months 'efforts, we finished the integration of an Aston Martin vehicle and the Letv IOV system. We have successfully equipped this supercar brand with over 100 years of history with an 'Internet brain'."
"Aston Martin is renowned for beauty and quality of its hand-crafted cars. The integration of Letv advanced connected technologies into this bespoke environment is a natural progression as we look to the future demands of our customers," Dr. Andrew Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin said.