“We are the first motor company to drive autonomous vehicles on urban and busy roads,” said Mercedes-Benz’ Dr. Zetsche at the unveiling of autonomous self-driving concept car here in Las Vegas at International CES.
Instead of the marshmallow cute Google toy self-driving LSV, Mercedes calls its autonomous vehicle, “Luxury in Motion”, the self-driving luxury sedan F 015 Luxury in Motion gives riders the luxury of private space and time.
Inside the F 015 are four rotating lounge chairs that allow a face-to-face seating, allowing passengers work, to relax or to communicate. Prior to disembarking the vehicle, the electrically powered seats swing outwards by 30 degrees as soon as the doors are opened to make getting out of it easier.
Passengers can interact intuitively with the connected vehicle through gestures, eye-tracking or by touching the high-resolution screens. Employing laser projection and LED displays, the electric F 015 Luxury in Motion interacts with the world around it.
It may be 2030 before we have the luxury of cars driving people. In the meantime, CES is driving new car tech dreams of freedom and mobilit yto the media and beyond. On Tuesday, a self-driving Audi should be arriving at the Las Vegas Convention Center for a news conference.
From the @Audi Twitter account, it looks like the auto-piloted Audi has arrived in Vegas. Below is photo of the driver with his hands off the wheel, driving into the sun. The car was de-bugged and washed before it makes an appearance at CES tomorrow.
We took a similar trip today, and wondered if the backup drivers in the autonomous Audi were getting bored not having to steer or press the gas pedal. The Audi auto-piloted car will only drive itself on freeways, when it’s in a congested urban area, the human is asked to take over driving.
Perhaps the drivers were taking selfies and Tweeting them. The auto piloted Audi was followed by a caravan of 30 reporters, maybe they were texting each other. There will more announcements from International CES coming soon at AUTO Connected Car News.