Remember that recent Zurich insurance advert where all the cars are whizzing merrily around, miraculously avoiding one another and without drivers? It's a scenario that might not be as sci-fi as it seems...at least that's what Ford reckons
You'll know, if you've seen the pics of the new Ford Evos concept, that this is the first look at Ford's new 'Kinetic 2.0' design language - and it's one we'll see in a production car in just a few months time (squint and you might just see the next Mondeo, a car that could be unveiled as early as next January's Detroit show).
What you probably won't know is that the Evos is also (theoretically at least) a showcase for Ford's technological vision of the future.
This will be a car, says Ford (though not in quite so many words) that will metaphorically blow your nose for you even before you know you've got a cold.
Using Ford's SYNC technology, it will talk wirelessly to your home and office, telling your alarm clock to wake you up later, especially if it deems that the traffic is thin enough (data gleaned from a constant) monitoring of traffic conditions. It will tell you if your early morning meeting has been cancelled and thus can give you the option of the scenic route into work. It will even tell you if there is a road near your route that your social media chums have tagged as a good route.
Should you choose said scenic route, the car will recognise this and automatically give you its sportiest settings. And if you get too carried away with things, a heart-rate monitor in the driving seat will instruct the car to only display 'essential' dials, minimising your distractions.
When you finally do reach the motorway, it will switch to full-electric mode, allowing you to use the EV-only lane (and monitoring cameras will know you are in EV mode, despite the presence of a tailpipe). And if all that isn't enough for you, it will be able to redirect you to the 'cleanest' route into work if you happen to drive into a smog cloud caused by all those nasty ICE cars... Oh, and it'll find and 'reserve' a parking space with a wireless EV charging point for you. And park the car with you.
All of which is undoubtedly impressive stuff, but you can't help feeling it's all a little bit too much, absolving us not only from the responsibility of everyday driving, but also even from when we choose to leave for work and which route we take.
Coupled with BMW's latest autonomous driving technology, it begins to build a vaguely alarming picture of our motoring future. Do we really want a machine to have that much control over our daily lives?
Ford and BMW clearly think so...
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