Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Autonomous cars seem to be everything the automotive world talks about these days and Mercedes-Benz can’t turn a blind eye to what is happening. As a matter of fact, the Stuttgart-based manufacturer recently launched the F015 concept that is their first venture into this world of self-driving vehicles.
While we and the rest of the world, were impressed with what they were capable of putting together, Dieter Zetsche has even bigger plans for the three-pointed star brand. He wants to set up a service that allows you to rent a driverless limousine whenever you need one. Surprised?
You shouldn’t be. The numbers show that as generations change, younger people are less and less interested in actually owning a car, finding rentals much more efficient and catering to their specific needs without the hassle of having to pay taxes, insurance or maintenance fees.
Rental services are already around, but our good man wants the car to drive itself, pick you up, take you wherever you need to go and then be on its way to someone else. Of course, for a fee. It would be even better if you could connect it to your smartphone’s calendar and show up all by itself, for example, when a meeting is over.
In this venture, the Germans plan to use their car2go service that allows you to share a car with other subscribers, from a fleet of Daimler-owned vehicles, by using a simple smartphone.
While it all sounds incredibly good, we still have a couple of years to wait until it becomes a reality. The Germans are trying to get their autonomous cars regulated and approved for public roads, but it seems like they won’t get any legal matters sorted before 2025.
That sets a 10-year long road ahead until we get to see the first autonomous cars from Stuttgart driving on public roads, including this limousine for rental service.
You shouldn’t be. The numbers show that as generations change, younger people are less and less interested in actually owning a car, finding rentals much more efficient and catering to their specific needs without the hassle of having to pay taxes, insurance or maintenance fees.
Rental services are already around, but our good man wants the car to drive itself, pick you up, take you wherever you need to go and then be on its way to someone else. Of course, for a fee. It would be even better if you could connect it to your smartphone’s calendar and show up all by itself, for example, when a meeting is over.
In this venture, the Germans plan to use their car2go service that allows you to share a car with other subscribers, from a fleet of Daimler-owned vehicles, by using a simple smartphone.
While it all sounds incredibly good, we still have a couple of years to wait until it becomes a reality. The Germans are trying to get their autonomous cars regulated and approved for public roads, but it seems like they won’t get any legal matters sorted before 2025.
That sets a 10-year long road ahead until we get to see the first autonomous cars from Stuttgart driving on public roads, including this limousine for rental service.
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