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LeTV, the Chinese media and electronics company that's backing EV startup Faraday Future, has created an infotainment concept for Aston Martin.
Unlike many of its sports car competitors, Aston doesn't have a large parent company to inexpensively appropriate technology from. Instead, it has to develop everything from scratch or partner with a larger company to develop it for them, as it recently did for the RapidE concept. Aston Martin also has an agreement with Mercedes' AMG division to build engines, and now, it seems, it could get a better infotainment platform — the radio and navigation system usually located in the center console — from LeTV.
The concept on display at CES is an Aston Martin Rapide S equipped with LeTV's terribly named "Internet of the Vehicle" system. Most of the center console has been replaced with a 13.3-inch touchscreen, with a 12.2-inch screen installed in place of the instrument cluster. It uses LeTV's cloud service to monitor the vehicle's health and provide other services through a Wi-Fi connection.
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"We have successfully equipped this supercar brand with over 100 years of history with an ‘Internet brain,'" said Ding Lei, cofounder of LeTV Super Car — the man who just spent time on stage at Faraday's press conference two nights ago.
While I'm sure Aston Martin would prefer to build everything in-house, if these partnerships can keep Aston Martin in the black and building great sports cars, we're all for it.
