PARIS — Renault will offer its vision for a future dominated by fully connected, self-driving vehicles with the Symbioz concept.
The Symbioz is a way for Renault to explore "autonomous, electric, connected mobility in the future," automaker said in a statement on Monday.
The concept will be unveiled at this month's Frankfurt auto show. Renault released a teaser picture of the battery-powered car but gave no details ahead of the concept's show debut on Sept. 12.
"The automobile of the future will function harmoniously and in permanent interaction with its environment, road network infrastructure and the digital lifestyles of its occupants," Renault said.
Renault said the Symbioz name is derived from the ancient Greek word sumbiosis, which means "living together." The letter Z at the end of the name refers to the all-electric Z.E. technology that powers the car.
The Symbioz is the third major concept shown by Renault at auto shows in the past year, as the company prepares to introduce a new model cycle under design chief Laurens van den Acker.
It follows the Trezor, a low-slung GT with a clamshell cockpit shown at Paris last fall; and the RS 2027 Vision, an interpretation of a future Formula 1 car shown at Shanghai in April. The company also showed the Zoe e-Sport concept at Geneva in February.
Renault has completed a full redesign of its lineup under van den Acker, who joined the company in 2009 from Mazda. The cycle began in 2012 with the introduction of the fourth-generation Clio subcompact, which drew on elements of the DeZir concept from 2010. The redesign concluded this year with the European market launch of the Koleos SUV.
Van den Acker's redesign helped Renault to become the second-best-selling brand in Europe after the Volkswagen marque. He has said that the next generation of Renault production cars, expected to begin with a new Clio in 2018, will be evolutionary in appearance.
