Gallery: The Mercedes Robo-Car That Made Me Want to Stop Driving
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The Mercedes F 015 is a concept car that predicts a world without human drivers.
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It's a vision of what cars could look like in 2030.
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On the current prototype, the suicide doors don't work very well.
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But when open, they drive home how different a concept this is.
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The front seats can swivel around to face those in the rear.
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You can control your speed with one of the many touchscreens, sliding the car between "Relaxed" and "Dynamic."
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The steering wheel retracts into the minimalist dashboard when it's not in use.
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It telescopes out when the human driver insists on taking over.
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The car's lights go blue when it's in autonomous mode, and white when the human's in charge.
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LEDs on the rear of the car can communicate messages to nearby, carbon-based lifeforms.
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A QR code replaces the license plate, of course.
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Mercedes calls the design "elegant, almost monolithic."
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Mercedes-Benz F 015 Concept: This groundbreaking concept bravely explores how vehicles as we know them today may be transformed by the coming age of "automobility." The concept demonstrates the importance of designing holistically for a new category of vehicles made possible with the emergence of an autonomous vehicle fleet. Unique affordances for communicating intent to pedestrians, interior privacy, new interior configurations, and new ways to work with digital content all make this design particularly noteworthy. — Danny Stillion, executive design director at IDEO
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It comes with an app you use to summon the car, natch.
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As different as it looks, the F 015 is still a Mercedes-Benz.
