Mercedes displayed a futuristic looking prototype autonomous auto during trade show CES in January, and a video of a self-driving “Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025” was released in July 2014.
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Inside the IAA, Mercedes went with a 2+2 setup, giving it a sportier feel.
Dr. Woll described the concept’s key points to evo.
Taking a page from Transformers, eight rear segments of the vehicle extend, which increase overall length by 390 mm. In essence, the longer airflow is attached to the panels of the auto, the less time it spends creating drag-increasing turbulence.
Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche said: “I think you don’t need too much imagination to see that by combining these strengths, attractive business models are possible in the future”. If you look at fish or birds, or any animal that has to swim or fly fast with low energy, all have this drop-shape, boat-tailing rear. When standing still it’s a perfectly executed visual design exercise, but once it starts rolling and hits 80km/h, the car’s exterior elements realign, resulting in a shape with a drag coefficient of 0.19, which, according to the firm, is on a par with the greatest race cars ever built. This Yoruba adage aptly captures the current situation at the 2015 Frankfurt motor show, which began in the German city on Monday.
The interior is equally modern in appearance, though its basic forms aren’t dissimilar from those of the production S-class range.
Mercedes-Benz is considering setting up a large fleet of self-driving limousines in what would amount to a high-end rival to Uber.
Concept IAA, short for Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, has the ability to alter its exterior to improve the flow of air over the four-door sedan which foreshadows in dimensions and profile the third-generation CLS expected in 2017.
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Google has also been working hard on driverless cars, and says it plans to have automated cars on the road by 2020, while Tesla is also developing its own driverless technology.
