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| Photo courtesy of GM |
And....You'll never, ever, see anything like it anywhere on the road. Which is too bad because it is a pretty thing, the clear side panels and the angular, sweeping lines. The problem is that concept cars such as this skew the average motorists idea regarding what is possible.
First, there appears to be no storage, so this would not be a practical car then. It also appears that the car will only have wheel engines only so it will move slower than you currently move in rush hour traffic. Yes, the car will drive itself, but possibly not much faster than you can make the walk.
Oh, and the ride. With those paint on tires it's a given that by the time you reach the office you will be shaken so much as to be homogenized.
My last problem with this is that it's got the power source all wrong. All electric cars just aren't working in the real world. Neither are hybrids despite their sales success. The future of automotive fuel is hydrogen gas. Yes, as nay-sayers continually point out, hydrogen production is currently very thirsty in terms of fuel. I predict this will get better. As will hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
It's not fair for me to say that electric-drive technology won't improve at the same time, but the floor for hydrogen cells are much higher and it appears that the ceiling is as well.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that GM shouldn't have built the thing, I'm just suggesting that it's wise to temper our expectations based on a concept that's clearly not designed to be be brought to the mass market.
These futuristic car designs don't excite me, as pretty as they may be. What excites me are concept cars that are fairly close to being ready to hit the mass market. That's more of a future vision than a pipe dream and what we should focus on to begin with. Treat these as what they are......
Sci-Fi.
