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Mercedes Benz Vision URBANETIC Is One Weird Swap-Body Concept Car

With the rise of autonomous electric vehicles opening up countless possibilities for automakers, we see more and weird car concept making their way into the spotlight.
Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic 19 photos
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
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An electric vehicle creates design ideas that were never possible before, mostly thanks to the fact that it lacks the bulky combustion engine usually fitted on it. But what if a car would not be a car at all, but rather just a platform of sorts? What if we dropped the body, too?

Mercedes-Benz Vans answered that question this week by unveiling the Vision URBANETIC – no connection to BMW’s or Skoda’s Vision vehicles. It is a type of machine that “eliminates the separation between people moving and goods transport.

Sure, that doesn’t mean passengers will be crammed-up in the same space with pallets of tomatoes or beer. It only means the body of the van can be swapped depending on the intended use.

For passenger transport, the cabin can hold as much as 12 people and act as an autonomous ride-sharing vehicle. For cargo, the variable load floor can transport up to ten EPAL palettes. When in cargo mode, the fact that it is autonomous means there’s no need for windows, making this one scary sight on city streets.

"Vision URBANETIC is a completely new mobility concept configured specifically for actual needs as well as efficiency and sustainability,” explain the people at Mercedes-Benz Vans that were behind the project.

“During the rush-hour traffic of early morning and late afternoon, the fleet can be equipped with more people-mover modules. During other times, the system would mainly be used for goods transport with the cargo module.”

There are, of course, no official plans to turn the Vision URBANETIC into a production vehicle. But at the rate this new segment of the industry advances, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a car with no body creeping up behind us on the streets not long from now.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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