Driving the lovely Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS concept in Japan

[MUSIC] Every now and again, we are blessed with a concept car that leaves us absolutely speechless and that's pretty much how I felt the first time I saw this. It's the Mercedes Benz Vision EQS. A vision for a future of luxurious All electric motoring. And as striking as this thing is to look at, what's really interesting is that this car is actually meant to be driven. It's not autonomous. And that's what I've come here in Japan to do. To get behind the wheel and take it for a spin. But before we step inside to check out what I assure you is remarkable interior, let's take a few more minutes to look closer at what's going on out here. I don't usually do detailed design walk around in these videos because I figure you can appreciate the details for yourself. But I did wanna call out some highlights starting with the proportions of the EQS which are striking to say the least. The car has simple pure lines that run from front to rear. Well I'm not usually a fan of two tone paint pulling the black down from the roof in under the fenders in the hood Really highlights that sultry shape look a little lower and you can see how the signs have been pulled inward and up giving this a more aggressive stance. That overall stance and something I can't take my eyes off of but look closer and there are some equally striking details at the rear 229 LED stars have been arranged to create a panel of indicator lights that integrate clearly with the shape of the car. But that's nothing compared to what's happening up front. We've seen a lot of advancements in vehicular lighting lately, everything from LED's to lasers, but we've never seen anything quite like this. By using a series of plates that spin at 2,000 rpm plus a 500 led matrix This car has got holographic headlights that are totally mesmerised and they create a 3D effect that I can't take my eyes off of. And that's part of the idea. Mercedes Benz wants to use these headlights plus all those tail lights add back and a ring of a LEDs that run all the way around the car to create a next generation of signaling system. Has far more information long than you could ever get from a good old blinker now that we're inside the car have to be a little bit careful about what i touch because this is a handheld prototype and i don't want to poke my finger through anything but the overall effect is like the outside really remarkable very open and airy with this single shape of a dashboard that sweeps all the way around through the doors She goes all the way around the car. There's one continuous shape that's really beautiful. It's actually inspired by yachting trying to give this sense of, eerie space and a really beautiful view outside of everything. Now, right now, there's not a lot of functional interior going on. As you can imagine, this is again, just a concept. But the idea is basically that these would be dark surfaces, that would illuminate as you've reached out to touch them, basically. The images, the icons that you would need to adjust temperature seating position or the radio station would all appear beneath your hand but when you back away, everything would go simple and clean just like it is now, and it's really beautiful. But the really interesting part you have to get a little bit closer to see. And that's these materials. These seats feel like high grain leather Actually, it's all vegan. And a lot of the plastics in here are made from recycled soda bottles. And the headliner is even going to be made from plastic that source from the ocean basically cleaning up the environment as you're creating a car. Of course, we haven't even talked about the fact that this is a zero emissions car. And then the final interesting bit on the interior of the vision EQS is the steering wheel and I don't mean the shape even though the shape is itself quite interesting. Isl the fact that there even is one a lot of concepts from Mercedes Benz lately have all been about the luxury of being driven and autonomous car. But this car is about the luxury of driving and that's what it's finally time for me to do soon as I figure out how to turn it on. All right, as it turns out, the magic is in this little hidden compartment here I need to reach in here, hit the D button. And then, here we go. Now, I gotta warn you, I'm not allowed to go very fast because again, this is a hand-built prototype so my top speed is very limited. But what's really interesting is that I can get the perspective of what it would be like to drive this car in the future and this is a lot different than a typical S class. They've reclined the seat and given it a little bit more of a sporty position partly to make up for the fact that we have an extra 110 millimeters of battery sitting beneath me. That moves the sitting position up and to maintain the roofline to keep it closer to light to the next class, leaning back a little more which makes it feel a little bit sportier. That's part of the reason why they cut the top of the steering wheel as well and to give it a clear view ahead. And Mercedes wants this to be a sporty car Starting by giving it 460 horsepower and 560 pound feet of torque, and since it's all electric, you'll have all that torque coming from zero RPM which should make this pretty fun indeed to drive. What about range? They're promising over 400 miles of range on a single charge, which Will be pretty impressive if and when this thing comes to market. And they say that something like this will they come into market in the not too distant future, a proper electric luxury sedan. And more importantly, this platform that this car is built on is something that Mercedes says can be used in a very flexible way, changing the wheel base changing the width as they need to give a new generation of electric cars coming from Mercedes Benz. And again, unfortunately I can't really tap into all that power right now because my speed limit is very low. But this is a really incredible interior to be in, and it's really interesting to see how they've continued that outside design trend into the inside, particularly with this LED light bar that continues on the inside On the outside is meant to communicate with pedestrians on the inside, it's meant to communicate to me to warn me about pedestrians. So if you see someone crossing the road over there and maybe a cyclist on the right, the car will flash at me in those directions to bring my attention over there because again, this is a car that I meant to drive, it will have level three autonomy, which means if I go on the highway, in certain situations I'll be to take my hands off of this Interestingly shaped wheel but the majority of the time, I'm meant to be driving this or maybe hiring a driver so that I can sit back there and relax. And there's one final thing that sets this vision of the future apart and that this is a sedan. It doesn't have SUV pretensions, no one's calling it a coupe. This is a luxury sedan, something that Mercedes-Benz has built its brand upon and something that brand believes will continue on into the future. And this is a future that I could get used to. [MUSIC]