MG Motor India hopes to re-create the magic with its upcoming Astor SUV by adopting the same strategy that worked for the Hector SUV. What that means is, the company has revealed the in-car technology on offer—prior to fully revealing the SUV itself. While the Hector was billed as “India’s first internet car” with an “Internet Inside” badging on the exterior of the car, the Astor has been bestowed with “India’s first car with AI Inside” tagline. Now you know what badge to expect on the exterior of this new car.
For the uninitiated, the Astor is an ICE-powered version of the ZS EV. It is based on the facelifted ZS that was revealed for Europe and Thai markets a year ago. The name ‘Astor’ is derived from a surveillance aircraft formerly operated by the Royal Air Force. Unlike the ZS sold in the international markets, the Astor features a ‘Celestial Grille’.
Alright then, let’s talk about the actual subject. There are three highlights of the Astor as you can tell from the infographics above, which are AI-powered personal assistant, Car-as-a-Platform (CAAP) services, and ADAS.
The AI personal assistant appears to sit on the dashboard like an aftermarket addition—like a cheaper version of NIO’s NOMI AI. The assistant is claimed to depict human-like emoticons and voices and can also give detailed information on various topics with the help of Wikipedia. In simple terms, the assistant can also read Wikipedia for you, among performing several other tasks. In addition, it’ll allow the owners to personalize their set of services.
Which brings us to the services topic. This CAAP thing forms an ecosystem of various in-car services to which the owners can subscribe, such as MapMyIndia, Jio Connectivity, blockchain-protected digital vehicle passport by KoineArth, JioSaavn app, and even reserving a parking slot through the head unit.
The last one, the ADAS, is fairly self-explanatory. The active safety and driver assistance systems which are common in Europe, America and other developed regions, are now slowly making their way into the cars sold in India as well. These include Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Assist, Blind Spot Detection and so on.
Also, read: MG Astor’s personal AI assistant will have Deepa Malik’s voice
Recommended for you
Leave a Reply
Note: Comments that are unrelated to the post above get automatically filtered into the trash bin.
