Smart interior on the GEA concept

The Gea concept from the design studio at Italdesign Giugiaro is a technical showboat for the world of future luxury motoring. Based on the very prevalent topic of ‘piloted driving’, the Gea’s concept shifts away from the driver seat to the passengers seated all around the vehicle and entertain them. Having driven off traffic laden streets of the city, the Gea directs the occupant’s interests around other tasks of interest than focusing on the road and boring hard-shoulders.

The thing that instantly catches your eyes is that the interior setting is split into two separate areas. Also separated by colour combinations, the driver gets a distinctive area than the passenger area. The designers have paid extensive attention to the detail levels of the interior.

The immaculate attention to the use of materials and the creation of various atmospheres are key concepts which have led the designers to create a welcoming setup which separates you from the outside. The neutral coloured materials used, woven parchment-leather, painted lacquer, smooth opalescent parchment-leather and soft shiny silk exude a delicate and soothing effect.

Panels on the door are upholstered in parchment-leather and are back-lit with a carefully structured LED system. Structural material used on the entire panel has different finish on the upper edge, hand-woven according to great Italian manufacturing tradition, adds class to the surface. Entire floor of the cabin covered with a silk carpet, also hand-made, which gives the feeling of being inside a luxury yacht cabin. The roof lighting and speakers are on the other hand made of micro-perforated stainless steel.

A thin network of detailed optic fibres runs along the pillars and the side rails, lightens up and gives the perception of the architecture through very fine diffused lighting system. A 12 inch screen displays with friendly purpose built graphic interface provides all the information required for driving and controlling the Gea (speed, engine rpm, satellite navigation, battery charge level, residual range, etc). The either side two 3.5 inch screens have been fitted vertically, that projects pictures from the side cameras feeding more information inside the cabin for awareness. When manoeuvring around in the Gea, a central monitor projects the pictures from the rear camera instead.

This cluster also features 6 touch-controls on either side and three facing the driver and three hidden away from view yet easy to reach even when driving. These information clusters are necessary to turn on the lights, to use the indicators, windscreen wipers, etc. The underside of the steering wheel has three classic buttons to be used to enable or disable the car, to select the speeds and to select the piloted driving function.

Coming back to the dashboard, it has been fitted with a 3-D holographic screen that runs across the perimeter of the width projecting pictures and graphics to match the selected setting. The 3-D holographic screen is an evolution of the one presented last year on board the Giugiaro Clipper. The seat tray on the right houses a compartment for the LG G-Flex smartphone on which the dedicated car apps have been installed.

Once connection between the device and the car has been established, the apps are sent to the central cluster monitor whereas only the controls to adjust the seat remain on the phone's touch screen. Apart from the dashboard, the Gea concept is compatible with LG’s latest smartwatch called the LG Watch Urbane LTE. Using a unique application, the LG Watch Urbane LTE draws feeds and other information from the car, as well as be used to open and close the car’s door.