Letv, Aston Martin reveal AutoLink Rapide S at CES

Chinese internet conglomerate Letv and luxury sports car brand Aston Martin on Thursday revealed the first results of their collaboration -- an Aston Martin Rapide S that incorporates the Letv Internet of the Vehicle (IOV) system at CES.

Aston Martin and Letv signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month to confirm research projects that include the development of connected electric vehicles through to manufacturing consultation on future electric vehicles.

"After a few months' efforts, we finished the integration of an Aston Martin vehicle and the Letv IOV system. We have successfully equipped this supercar brand with over 100 years of history with an 'Internet brain'," Ding Lei, co-founder, global vice chairman and China and Asia Pacific CEO of Letv Super Car, said at the ongoing four day International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The ideation and engineering of the Aston Martin Rapide S project has developed a new concept for the centre console and instrument panel. The centre console is now a 13.3-inch high-definition touch screen and the instrument panel is now a 12.2-inch thin-film transistor (TFT) screen incorporating electronic instrumentation and gauges.

The original human-machine interaction (HMI) has also been updated by integrating Letv's latest speech recognition technology. "Aston Martin is renowned for the beauty and quality of its hand-crafted cars.

The integration of Letv advanced connected technologies into this bespoke environment is a natural progression as we look to the future demands of our customers," Andrew Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, said in a statement. Letv first showed this technology in November 2015 and has released a product, using this technology, specifically developed for automotive applications.