German car manufacturer Volkswagen Group has revealed its zero-emissions, electric microbus concept in the form of BUDD-e at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

While Volkswagen says the BUDD-e has a range of up to 373 miles on a single charge, based on the rather generous New European Drive Cycle, and the battery system can be powered up to 80 percent in just 15 minutes, the true excitement lies in BUDD-e’s interior and exterior design.

BUDD-e interior

The interior of the BUDD-e looks like something out of a Star Trek movie. The BUDD-e combines the infotainment and instrument panel into a sleek continuous display. The “Active Info Display,” located in front of the driver, is a programmable instrument cluster while passengers can access the head unit for all their infotainment needs.

The Active Info Display is broken into three sections – Drive, Control and Consume.

Drive highlights your current route through a 3D map, together with navigation instructions, buildings and points of interest.

Control provides the driver with vehicle status information, including trip data from the BUDD-e’s onboard computer.

Consume contains infotainment information like audio controls, as well as the displaying of messages, weather info and calendar entries.

The operation of all of BUDD-e’s systems is intuitive via gesture control, voice control or touchscreen. A simple “Hello BUDD-e” will get your car listening. BUDD-e also offers Natural Speech, so if you say, “Turn the heat up a bit,” BUDD-e will understand and respond accordingly.

The system is also able to pinpoint a passenger giving a command and make adjustments for that specific person. For example, if your passenger in the back gives a command of it being too hot, the BUDD-e system can lower the temperature in the specific passenger’s climate zone.

The BUDD-e steering wheel is clear of buttons, operating via haptic feedback, using swipes and touch pressure.

BUDD-e also connects to your smart home, allowing you to control the air conditioning and lights. The “Drop Box,” a storage compartment under the tailgate, allows delivery services to open it with a digital key and deposit your packages.

BUDD-e exterior

The BUDD-e has a two-tone paint job consisting of white and copper, with plenty of LED lights. The wing mirrors are gone, replaced with the e-Mirrors. Images from external cameras display on the multifunction displays. BUDD-e also has no door handles. The infrared sensors in the BUDD-e will detect when passengers are approaching and the doors can be opened with a wave.

Images via: Volkswagen