Swiss concept imagines self-driving car as coffee shop, movie theater

Let's face it: We're all exhausted. We work hard, we play hard, we get up too early and we stay up too late and all we have to show for it are Starbucks Rewards and bad breath. Isn't it time for technology to make life easier by taking on responsibilities for us rather than adding to our burden?

That's the thinking behind the Rinspeed XchangE, a concept car that imagines the self-driving future where driver and passenger alike can recline and watch a movie while the vehicle handles the dull details of moving safely at highway speeds.

Rinspeed, a Swiss tuner of high-end European sports cars, annually builds a far-out concept for the Geneva Motor Show. This year's edition was spurred by founder Frank Rinderknecht asking what would drivers do if self-driving cars actually become a reality. "So far hardly anyone has taken this to its logical conclusion from the perspective of the driver," he says. "After all, traveling in a driverless car will no longer require me to stare at the road, but will let me spend my time in a more meaningful way.“