Land Rover's Discovery Vision Concept is an SUV of the Future

Land Rover is synonymous with off roading the way McDonalds is to fast food or the airline industry is to terrible service. This rough-and-tumble British brand revealed its cutting-edge Discovery Vision concept right here in the urban jungle of Manhattan.

Aside from all of the advanced technology this puppy is loaded with, it also indicates the design direction future members of the Discovery family will take. That’s right, going forward the nameplate will morph into a whole range of models. As for this concept, it’s clean and modern looking, though its stepped roof and alpine lights are pure Land Rover heritage.

Of course it also features a huge range of Star Trek-grade technologies. For instance it’s got gesture control, which allows you to operate things like the turn signals, headlamps and display screens by merely gesticulating. It’s also got something called Smart Glass that brings augmented reality to the vehicle’s glazed surfaces. Now, if it only came with warp drive and a tractor beam.

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Another crazy feature is called Remote Drive Control. It allows a motorist to operate the vehicle at very low speeds while not seated inside. This could be particularly useful in tight off-road situations or when hooking up a trailer.

Powerful laser headlamps provide day-like lighting and automatically dip to keep from blinding others. How thoughtful.

Beyond all of this the Discovery Vision’s signature feature is arguably its Transparent Bonnet heads-up display. This nifty idea allows the driver to see what’s going on immediately in front of the vehicle, even if the ground is obscured by the hood.

Cameras mounted below the grille look ahead and their images are projected onto the windscreen in a manner that makes it look like the bonnet is actually transparent.

Of course this seven-seat concept is loaded with even MORE advanced features like special folding seats, luggage that’s integrated into the doors and Laser Terrain Scanning, but we just don’t have time to cover them all in this video. If Land Rover can bring even a handful of this cutting-edge technology to market in future versions of the Discovery they’ll probably win A lot of new customers.