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In-wheel autonomy with Icona Nucleus

The Icona Nucleus, an in-wheel electronic drive system, was showcased at this year’s Geneva Motor Show bringing a new meaning to autonomous driving.

The Icona concept Nucleus represents the synthesis of futurism and a human-centered mindset. With its fully autonomous driving level five, the Nucleus jumps two generations ahead. Inside the vehicle, the absence of a driver does not only mean the absence of a steering wheel and a dashboard, but the opportunity for a new understanding of mobile living spaces, where the focus is no longer the road but the journey.

Technology should be felt but not seen and so a “less is more approach” has been used, resulting in a fluid and sculptural body that combines the needs of both aerodynamics and ergonomics. Beyond its technological innovation, Nucleus also shows us the future for the next generation of cars.

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Icona and Elaphe both believe that the transformation through different levels of vehicle autonomy and digitalization needs to be supported by a transformation in the underlying technology that performs the base functionality – the powertrain. In order to build the vehicle around the user’s needs, the powertrain should become virtually invisible to the user, with the focus instead on “the front-end functionality”.

The future-oriented Icona Nucleus uses the most forward-looking Elaphe in-wheel motor technology for its electric powertrain, with each wheel featuring the highest-performance production in-wheel motor in the world.

Headquartered in Europe, Elapse is a in-wheel motor technology company. The Elaphe™ L1500 in-wheel motor is currently the brand’s highest-performance product, producing a staggering 1500 Nm peak torque which available to each wheel throughout the speed range, delivering 110kW of maximum power to each wheel. The four L1500 in-wheel motors on the Nucleus provide the stunning concept with a total of 440kW of wheel power (in the same range as the Lamborghini Huracan).

Not only does the in-wheel motor deliver superior performance without the technical complexities of a combustion engine, gears, transmissions, differential, driveshafts and other components, it allows designers more flexibility in space design (https://youtu.be/GdV42IPxBac).

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Benefitting from this, the Icona Nucleus’ luxury interior design redefines the rules of people’s activities in the car – six comfortable seats can be seamlessly adjusted, or even joined into two large sofas; it also features a lamp, and a table, to allow passengers the freedom of choice between an office or leisure time. The passengers get to feel like if they are sitting in a luxurious living room, fully enjoying the graceful time on the road.

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