On the Road In Mercedes Sci-Fi Self-Driving Car of 2030

On a pre-programmed course in an old airfield in Alameda, Calif., a silverfish-shaped car meanders through a cardboard city full of frozen people and cut-out trees. Here at the edge of Silicon Valley, looking back across the bay at the San Francisco skyline and just minutes from Mercedes-Benz’s Research facility in Sunnyvale, the F 015 “Luxury In Motion” autonomous prototype vehicle makes its way — with the driver's seat comfortably swiveled 180 degrees to face backwards.

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi film, but this is Mercedes-Benz’s vision of the future — the year 2030 to be precise. The F 015 concept is quite literally a living room on wheels. Feel like driving? Swivel your chair and take control of the steering wheel that folds neatly away when not in use. Feel like working, relaxing, or talking? Swivel back around and face your fellow passengers; the car will continue to drive you to your destination. In Mercedes purview, life in the future is no longer about speed, but relaxation and the luxury of time.

While the F 015 is still a prototype, and not yet robust enough to make highway trips like over self-driving test cars, the approach to the design of the vehicle is straight from the pages of Steve Jobs. “Autonomous vehicles make sense because of the increased emphasis on the interaction between occupants," says Koert Groeneveld, head of research and development communications at Merecedes-Benz. "The cities of the future will be bigger, more densely packed and life will be more hectic. Time and private space will become a luxury.”

It’s not only how the car impacts and interacts with its passengers, but how the car interacts with the outside world. LEDs in the front and back of the car flash words like “STOP” and “GO” across what would normally feature headlights and taillights. It is polite to a fault, insisting that pedestrians proceed first, projecting a laser outlined crosswalk in front of the car and instructing them verbally to “please cross,” tracking their movement across the field as they go. Mercedes notes that the windows are covered in a subtle dot pattern to keep people from seeing in, but which also limits visibility out.