Driverless car Industry Gaining Traction

Mercedes driverless car interior

For the last couple of years driverless cars have been making headlines, partly due to Google pushing forward with their technology to create the “Google Chauffeur” software. This allows cars to be powered by electricity and for their vehicles to generate a ‘3D map’ of their surrounding environment. It then uses a complex algorithm to produce different sets of data that allow the car to drive itself.

How this will affect a test drive down at your car dealership is somewhat of a mystery at this time, with virtual dealerships becoming popular and driverless cars – will we even need to have a physical showroom anymore and a test drive with a car salesman? At least this will save them money on their motor trade insurance.

Driverless cars are currently legal in four states currently in America with more set to follow suit. So for now it looks more like a real possibility rather than a pipe dream. However it is not only Google getting in on the act. Mercedes have just unveiled a new driverless car, complete with…. wait for it…a coffee table built in.

Mercedes believe driving of the future is all about comfort. With seats that are designed to face each other with rotating lounge chairs. They have an inbuilt system to monitor eye, hand and finger movements and coordination, which are used to control the vehicle. Also included are inbuilt screens to watch your favorite television shows or to communicate with the outside world. It does feature a steering wheel and a manual override system also to control the car. High tech indeed!

Unfortunately at this time, Mercedes are not allowing exterior shots of the car to be released. One can only hope that they are as bold as the company’s interior.

We can expect further movement of the driverless vehicle scene in 2015, with the London Mayer Boris Johnson backing driverless buses in the capital and rural areas. Who knows ten years from now we may all be jumping into our driverless cars to get to work.