LANCIA NEA

Tripmate: make a friend of your car

Nea, in a word, new. As only a concept car that proposes features derived from needs that are as yet only latent in the car world can be. And first among these is the ability to communicate. Which means exploiting every opportunity for dialogue, between vehicle and driver, and between the car and the rest of the world. Then there is safety. Which means assisting the driver, keeping an eye on the road and the other vehicles with him, and helping him if dangerous situations arise.

The Lancia Nea is not an exercise in engineering for its own sake, but if anything the fruit of changing times. The Internet and the boom in mobile communications have accustomed the general public to easy, fast connections with the rest of the world. Wherever they are. The result is a virtual community that is creating new rules of cohabitation, different customs and mentalities, and new requirements. They are the requirements of a consumer accustomed to finding an answer to his demands at every time of the day or night. A customer who has learned to make purchases, to visit museums, to book air tickets, trains and hotels without queuing for a moment, to dialogue and work with interlocutors thousands of miles away without leaving his home or office.

These new needs and lifestyles are destined to reflect on the way we build and use our cars. The same thing has happened in the safety field, where in recent years there have been significant improvements, both in the protection of occupants, thanks to the use of new devices and materials, and to virtual crash simulation that makes it possible to calibrate the structure of the bodyshell perfectly; and in active safety, with the development of sophisticated electronic systems which improve the driveability and roadholding of the cars. Today we are concentrating on this second aspect: our dream is of a car capable not only of minimising damage but also of avoiding accidents.

Fiat Auto's response to these needs is a concept car that embodies the latest solutions in the field of active safety, and brings the world of data transmission and IT into the car, where it is easily exploited by the driver, but can also be constantly updated, in step with technological developments.

The Lancia Nea designers started from the idea that the car should be a 'trip-mate', a travelling companion, always present but 'discreet' and never overbearing, capable of taking the driver by the hand and guiding him, literally, to his destination, supporting and protecting him in danger situations. A car with which he can dialogue simply and naturally. As you would with a friend.

Choosing the road of concreteness, this philosophy has been translated into extremely innovative technical ideas that are nonetheless achievable industrially and destined to appear in mass production sooner or later.

The result is a concept car that is a concentrate of 'friendly technology' because it was designed with a single purpose, to guarantee an unprecedented level of safety and comfort. A car that is absolutely Lancia, because it develops the brand values consistently (well-being on board, adaptability to the personal needs of driver and passengers, stress-free driving), with the spirit of innovation that has always distinguished its recent and past history.

The Lancia Nea responds to the need to communicate with the outside world with an onboard IT system that is really amazing. A few examples are sufficient to grasp the many possibilities it offers.

The Lancia Nea takes you to your destination: it is hard to get stuck in a traffic jam because the navigation system is linked with a service provider and indicates the exact route, bearing in mind all the available information regarding traffic conditions and alternative roads.

The Lancia Nea gives you all the information you need; it informs you how a particular share is performing on the stock exchange, it can select the news you are interested in from the various daily papers; it tells you how to get to your favourite restaurants, it reminds you if a bill needs paying, or a policy renewing, as well as of birthdays and other anniversaries.

The Lancia Nea is always ready to welcome you. You can set all the parameters of your trip on a web page of the Internet: departure time, destination, route, and so on.

Its telematic 'miniworld' pampers everyone. Even the passengers who are offered a laptop connected to the onboard computer on which they can transfer data from the home or office PC, access the Internet, send e-mail to their friends, watch DVD films, or listen to music, storing a large number of CDs in the car's fixed memory.

This technology is complex and sophisticated, but it is also reassuring. On the Lancia Nea, the pushbuttons and all the elements that can distract the driver or complicate things for him are kept to a minimum: if he needs anything, he just has to ask the car, speaking normally, using the voice control.

The concept car responds to the widespread desire for peace of mind and protection, by creating a virtual 'safety belt' around the driver, that can prevent accidents. It is fitted with a radar, telecameras and sensors that constantly monitor the manoeuvring area, and identify dangers, as well as a series of sophisticated devices that help the driver in emergencies.

For example, the Nea will brake automatically or take control of the steering to avoid an obstacle; it engages four-wheel drive when grip is poor; and when visibility is limited it maintains the safety distance by adapting its speed to that of the car in front.

To guarantee maximum wellbeing onboard, the new prototype can be extensively customised. The owner just has to approach the car with his smart card in his pocket (the electronic key), and the car will recognise him. The electro-chromic windows will clear and the lights in the passenger compartment will come on. If he touches the pillars the doors will open, and the seat will turn outwards to invite the driver to sit down. When he is seated, everything is adjusted to his habits: the position of the steering wheel and seat, the intensity and colour of the illumination, the inside temperature, the configuration of the onboard instruments, and the driving style.

He can even telephone the Lancia Nea to ask it to set the heater so that the temperature is just right when he gets in, or to ask the car to make itself visible if he cannot remember exactly where he has parked it.

The welcome that the concept car gives its owner is not the cold response of a machine, but an emotive response worthy of a true travelling companion. With the Lancia Nea, the car leaves its cocoon to connect with the world and becomes increasingly 'human', at least where relationships, ease of dialogue and simplicity of use are concerned.