We're all used to seeing "concept cars" -- those bits of automotive frippery that manufacturers trot out at motor shows every few months. Generally, they're either design tinsel that will never see the light of day, or previews of cars that will soon appear in showrooms.
Read: 7 radical concept cars conceived by industry outsiders
And then there's the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion.
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A futuristic ride in Mercedes' self-driving car
By John Mcilroy, CNN
Updated 0702 GMT (1502 HKT) August 4, 2017
The F 015 is pure-electric, but it has the plumbing for a hydrogen fuel cell that could allow it to travel as much as 900 kilometers without refueling or recharging.
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Engineers involved in the project already know that elements like the LCD touchscreens could be replaced and upgraded to crisper, more responsive OLED technology.
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The car has four 32in touchscreens, one in each of its huge doors. Feedback from customer clinics has suggested that communicating with friends will be as important as watching TV.
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The F 015 visited the UK briefly in July and then flew straight from there to South Africa for further customer clinics. Its world tour is expected to last at least another year.
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Mercedes' future mobility solutions may not look exactly like the F 015, but the car has certainly shaped the direction of the company's vision on autonomous vehicles and their interiors.
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The car made its debut in Las Vegas more than two years ago, but it's been on a worldwide tour ever since. More than a quarter of a million people have experienced it up close.
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The Mercedes Benz F 015 at the Dam square in Amsterdam in March 2016.
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World premiere of the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion at the CES.
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The F 015 has concept-car looks -- and it's unlikely to appear in showrooms any time soon -- but Mercedes has used it as a research project to gain valuable insight into future trends.
Photos: Luxury in motion
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More than a quarter of a million people now have managed to get up close and interact with the F 015 during its lifetime.
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The cabin of the F 015 is designed to allow users to experiment with what they'd like to do when vehicles are able to drive themselves.
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The F 015 was introduced by Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche at the Consumer Electronics Show back in 2015.
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The F 015 is pure-electric, but it has the plumbing for a hydrogen fuel cell that could allow it to travel as much as 900 kilometers without refueling or recharging.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
7 of 12
Engineers involved in the project already know that elements like the LCD touchscreens could be replaced and upgraded to crisper, more responsive OLED technology.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
8 of 12
The car has four 32in touchscreens, one in each of its huge doors. Feedback from customer clinics has suggested that communicating with friends will be as important as watching TV.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
9 of 12
The F 015 visited the UK briefly in July and then flew straight from there to South Africa for further customer clinics. Its world tour is expected to last at least another year.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
10 of 12
Mercedes' future mobility solutions may not look exactly like the F 015, but the car has certainly shaped the direction of the company's vision on autonomous vehicles and their interiors.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
11 of 12
The car made its debut in Las Vegas more than two years ago, but it's been on a worldwide tour ever since. More than a quarter of a million people have experienced it up close.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
12 of 12
The Mercedes Benz F 015 at the Dam square in Amsterdam in March 2016.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
1 of 12
World premiere of the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion at the CES.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
2 of 12
The F 015 has concept-car looks -- and it's unlikely to appear in showrooms any time soon -- but Mercedes has used it as a research project to gain valuable insight into future trends.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
3 of 12
More than a quarter of a million people now have managed to get up close and interact with the F 015 during its lifetime.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
4 of 12
The cabin of the F 015 is designed to allow users to experiment with what they'd like to do when vehicles are able to drive themselves.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
5 of 12
The F 015 was introduced by Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche at the Consumer Electronics Show back in 2015.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
6 of 12
The F 015 is pure-electric, but it has the plumbing for a hydrogen fuel cell that could allow it to travel as much as 900 kilometers without refueling or recharging.
Photos: Luxury in motion
Show Caption
7 of 12
John McIlroy is Deputy Editor of Auto Express and Carbuyer.
(CNN)We're all used to seeing "concept cars" -- those bits of automotive frippery that manufacturers trot out at motor shows every few months. Generally, they're either design tinsel that will never see the light of day, or previews of cars that will soon appear in showrooms.
Read: 7 radical concept cars conceived by industry outsiders
And then there's the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion.
Catchy name aside, this odd-looking creation has had such a varied life that its maker refuses to call it a "concept." It's a research project instead, hence the name (the 'F' is a German prefix denoting 'research vehicle' status).
Designed for living
The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion: Forerunner of a mobility revolution
The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion: Forerunner of a mobility revolution
The F 015 made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas more than two years ago. It's packed with advanced (or what was considered advanced in 2015) autonomous technology, and can, in theory, run for almost 900 kilometers on a mixture of pure electric power and a hydrogen fuel cell.
But while countless other vehicles are still trying to prove that cars can, literally, drive themselves, Merc's offering takes this for granted. Instead, this vehicle wants us to consider what we'll actually do while the car is driving us around.
The steering wheel slides into the dashboard to create more of a "lounge" space. The seating configuration allows four people to face each other if they want to talk. And when the onboard conversation dries up, a bewildering collection of screens -- one on the rear wall, and one on each of the doors -- offers plenty of opportunity to interact with various media.
The F 015 could have done all of this as a flash-in-the-pan show car -- seen at a couple of major events before vanishing without trace. But in fact it has been touring almost constantly since that Vegas debut.
Wild, wacky, impossible: The world's most outrageous concept cars
Wild, wacky, impossible: The world's most outrageous concept cars
On the day that I managed to get up close with the car at a Mercedes facility in the UK, engineer Thomas Jaeger admitted that the F 015 had probably racked up tens of thousands of air miles.
Not bad for a car that is estimated to have been driven less than 500 kilometers under its own steam (or battery, at least) during the same period. More than a quarter of a million people have now managed to get up close and interact with the F 015 during its lifetime.
"We have learned so much from this project," Jaeger said. "The most important thing is that people aren't afraid of autonomous vehicles. They see them as an opportunity -- and they are already interested to know what else they'll be able to do when they don't have to look at the road."
The key, Jaeger said, is communication. "Of course, people are keen to experience movies or games while they're on the move," he said.
"But they also want to be productive, whether it's using this time to sort out things with their lives, or to catch up with friends -- either in the car or on social networking. Their feedback says that they're ready and excited by the extra time that autonomous cars can give them."
Read: Mercedes shifts gears to make way for line of e-cars
A work in progress
Climbing aboard the F 015, you see how it could work. The powered doors slowly open to reveal a huge aperture through which you enter the car, albeit with a significant duck of the head.
The futuristic seats aren't particularly comfortable, but with a decent set of padded Mercedes armchairs, this environment would be a pretty pleasant.
Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion in San Francisco 2015
Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion in San Francisco 2015
On the move, the F 015 creaks and shudders, as all one-off vehicles do. And it feels heavy. But that's because it is -- carbon fiber body panels notwithstanding, the amount of bespoke engineering and technology on board makes the car heavier than many large SUVs.
When the vehicle is at rest, the only noise it produces is the constant whoosh of computer fans under the hood. There are a total of 14 processing devices on board, but only four are involved in making the car autonomous. The rest -- 10 MacBook Pros, as it turns out -- are dedicated to operating the user interface and throwing graphics around on the screens.
Read: Why car manufacturers turn to archives for 'new' ideas
Parts of this car have dated in the two-and-a-half years since its debut. The 32in touchscreens in the doors, for example, are relatively poor-contrast LCD displays, not hi-tech, ultra-crisp OLED. And the rear-projection instrument panel that wraps around the dashboard isn't particularly clear, especially in sunlight.