Take a Test Drive of Mercedes’ Self-Driving Car
Forget waiting on flying cars. We can fulfill our Jetson dreams with a car that lets us relax while it chauffeurs us through traffic. We’ve seen Google’s cute, cartoon-looking, self-driving vehicle in action, and we fell in love with the entire idea of it. The Navia self-driving golf cart was cool too, and then the ever-so-colorful stained-glass sleeper car caught our attention even more. And in the past year, Mercedes, IDEO and Rinspeed each created their own prototype of what they hope the future of self-driving vehicles will look like. To say the least, we’re pretty freaking stoked for the year 2040, because according to the stats, 75% of cars will be self-driven by then. Say whaaat?
Mercedes is known for its timeless luxury vehicles, so we were pretty confident that their stab at a self-driven car was going to be nothing less than bourgeois. Their prototype looks like a mix of Back to the Future and Tron. They stayed true to their luxurious style with ample leg room, ergonomic seats and even a TV.
After seeing Mercedes’ self-driven vehicle prototype, it’s hard to imagine anything more extravagant. But then you see Rinspeed’s prototype and it makes the wealthiest celebrities’ fully loaded limos seem obsolete. This personal entertainment set on wheels comes with a bigger TV than Mercedes’ and with cushioned leg space. Need we say more?
Self-driven vehicles give new pathways to productivity. All the things you wish you could be doing while stuck in heavy 5pm traffic are now possible. You could FaceTime the kids while they’re at home and maybe even help them out with their homework. You could stop by at a restaurant, order takeout and eat it while watching TV. These are the things that IDEO kept in mind when tackling their concept car. Their prototype takes out the conventional car seats and puts in a mini conference table with four office chairs around it. It’s an ideal setting for business trips so that you and your co-workers can prepare PowerPoint presentations, projects and analyses, making better use of your time.
With all these prototypes being revealed, we can’t help but get even more excited for the future. Parents won’t need to drive their kids to school — heck, they won’t even need to drive themselves anywhere. Carpooling with the neighbors for Tahoe trip would be even more fun, and — on a more serious note — drunk driving incidents would be a thing of the past.
Are you looking forward to riding in a fully-functional, self-driven car as much as we are? Let us know in the comment section!
(h/t Fast Company)
