Of all the future concepts we’ve reviewed, the Mercedes F 015 Luxury in Motion concept car predicts 2030 technologies most accurately. For instance, it has a pillar-to-pillar display that bears a striking resemblance to a screen that interior supplier Continental says will go into production as early as 2024 (Continental won’t identify the customer).
The concept also imagines interior door surfaces made with smart materials that can turn into multifunctional screens – a trend that is taking off now as automakers strive to offer cockpits that can display lots of information or none at all, according to the moods of driver and occupants.
And even though the Mercedes Luxury in Motion concept car was introduced at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show when confidence in self-driving technology was soaring, its designers were astute enough to know seatbelts still would be necessary in 2030 and beyond because autonomous vehicles would be sharing the road with millions of conventional vehicles driven by fallible human drivers.
The Luxury in Motion concept also features a steering wheel that retracts into the instrument panel during Level 3 and above driving but can also function as a conventional steering wheel when desired. We now know every steering wheel manufacturer is developing retracting steering wheels as L3 autonomy gains ground and interest in higher levels is fading – at least in personal vehicles.
