Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo

As with Mercedes’ F 015 concept introduced at the 2015 CES worldwide Show, the Vision Tokyo’s lounge-like interior is outfitted with a hidden steering wheel that can be deployed for conventional operation, but both cars’ default setting is autonomous. It can continuously study the occupants and become increasingly familiar with their tastes, preferences, etc, using its Deep Machine Learning and an intelligent Predictive Engine technologies.

Hold on to your wallets, though – even if you are 20 and unimaginably wealthy.

The Vision Tokyo isn’t slated for production anytime soon, but with most carmakers now looking at around 2020 to 2030 as a launch window for their driverless vehicle technologies, we could see this concept – or something like it – roll out of Mercedes showrooms in the not-too-distant future. So that fin on the roof provides a 360-degree camera and there are a load of sensors across the body.

Mercedes-Benz has used the “trailblazing” setting of Tokyo motor show to unveil its latest futuristic concept, the Vision Tokyo “Connected Lounge”. These proportions are emphasised by the monochrome Alubeam paintwork and by side windows screen-printed in the colour of the vehicle.

Somewhat like the Luxury in Motion concept vehicle it unveiled in Las Vegas in January, the Vision Tokyo is equipped with an electric hybrid system that pairs a battery with a fuel cell. The steering wheel is out of the way of the passengers and the driver’s seat is immersed within the center of the couch unless a need for manual driving emerges.

The video intercuts images of Tokyo’s buildings and crowded streets with shots of the interior and exterior of the vehicle. None of those seats are for driving in the autonomous future, though; instead there’s only a face-to-face conversation pit surrounded by wraparound LED screens, in which passengers (somehow) interact with three-dimensional holograms of apps, maps, and entertainment.

The hydrogen used to power the hybrid system is stored in pressurized tanks within the floor of the concept.

It has room for five passengers, which can access the interior via the upward-swinging door on the left-hand side – ideal for Japan’s right-hand-drive traffic.

Gorden Wagener is the Daimler’s head of design at Mercedes-Benz.

Powered by a fuel-cell powertrain with a 980km range, clearly this zeppelin of pure luxury is more flight of fantasy than previewing anything of the immediate future.

Following on from the F015 Luxury in Motion research vehicle as an autonomous luxury saloon, Mercedes-Benz is now presenting a new show auto of the same ilk which has been developed with the needs and wishes of the so-called “Generation Z” in mind.