Kia Niro EV concept claims 238 miles of range as Kia bets big on EVs, autonomy
Kia also made it clear that it’s getting serious about electrified vehicles. It announced that by 2025, it will have 16 vehicles with some form of electrified powertrain. Of those vehicles, five will be new hybrids, another five will be plug-in hybrids, and one will be a fuel-cell electric vehicle. That fuel-cell car is due to come out in 2020.
Finally, Kia is showing off some other interesting technologies at CES, many of which will be demonstrated in interactive Niro EV concept interiors. A number of these technologies involve how occupants interact with the car, such as with facial and vocal recognition, and touch and gesture controls. Apparently one example of the touch controls is on a leather-wrapped section of the Niro EV steering wheel.
Possibly the most interesting and practical technology is dual-zone audio. Kia’s system uses speakers in headrests along with active noise-cancelling to allow front-seat and back-seat passengers to listen to two different things simultaneously without disturbing the others, and without the use of headphones. This could be seriously attractive for families that fight over whether to listen to news or music. No timeline was given for when any of these technologies might reach production.
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