Chinese startup firm BeyonCa has rolled out its first concept car named Optus 1. The detailed parameters aren’t there yet, but it is official that the production car – which is coming – will be able to monitor the driver’s arterial blood pressure. It is also designed to compete against the Porsche Taycan and is slated for a 2023 Auto Shanghai premiere.
The car is 5.2 meters (17 feet) long with 3 meters (9.85 feet) between the axles, making it comparable with the Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS as well. It is coming with a variety of traction batteries rated up to 130 kilowatt-hours and an 800V power architecture supporting chargers rated up to 350kW. The rest of the details are still pending.
As for the blood pressure sensors, they will make an integral part of the driver’s state monitor feature. If the system believes the driver is suffering a medical episode, it will immediately call the emergency services and contact the manufacturer’s call center as well. BeyonCa believes its experts can arrive on the spot to provide medical advice sooner than the ambulance can. And if the episode occurs during driving, the car will automatically switch to autopilot, slow itself down smoothly and park in a safe spot.
All of the above might sound like a pipe dream until you learn that the company is headed by none other than Soh Weiming, the ex-VP of Volkswagen China. The company claims it has also enlisted the help of former professionals from Audi, Bentley and Skoda.
While not official, it is assumed that Renault and Dongfeng are funding the startup, and the latter may provide its industrial capacities for the production of the Optus 1. BeyonCa’s plans for the next few years include designing 3–5 new EVs and selling the Optus 1 starting from a cool 1 million Yuan (~137,400 USD).