Mercedes joins driverless car race with US road shows
21 Mar 2015
The race for self-driving cars is hotting up. Soon after Elon Musk's Tesla announced an early launch of its version, Mercedes-Benz is showing off its concept self-driving car - the F 015 'Luxury in Motion' - in testing sites across the United States.
The company does not expect self-driving cars to be legal until 2025, but wants to display its own impressions of the future of driving.
Unlike some other concept vehicles, Mercedes believes driving will become less about sitting in front of the wheel, and more about interacting with the car to get access to the Internet, play games, and chat with other people from inside the car.
It has added touchscreen panels on every side of the F 015; all will be connected to the internet, or show images of the outside of the car.
Front seat riders will be able to swivel the chair 180 degrees to face the back seat chairs. Mercedes is hoping that by the time the F 015 comes to market, regulators will have removed the need to always have control of the steering wheel.
The F 015 still has a steering wheel and the tools for driving, but as Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk pointed out, by 2025, regulators may force drivers to use self-driving technology in order to avoid accidents that can happen when humans are driving (See: Musk's Tesla may be first off the block with driverless car).
This is just one of the concepts being worked on by the automotive industry. In the next few years, companies like Ford, General Motors, Tesla Motors and BMW will all have a role to play in the self-driving revolution that is not too far off.
The question is who will come out on top?
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