MINI Vision Next 100 concept
autopilot cars are on the way Words by Richard Webb
BMW’s Vision Next 100 concept car is the best of Uber and Airbnb. Call it up, and it autonomously arrives at your location. Then drive it yourself or put it in self-driving mode. It’s a car reimagined for an intelligent, connected future
A
t Villa d’Este, on the banks of Lake Como, Italy, old money puts up with the nouveau riche in the same awkward way that Champagne cocks a snoop at Prosecco. It’s also where the world’s most jaw-droppingly beautiful, silly-money collector’s cars are shown at the annual Concorso d’Eleganza. Here, I had a chance to mingle with automotive historians and futurologists, and between them they confirmed some very big trends – like driverless cars.
I spoke to Adrian van Hooydonk, senior vice-president of BMW Group Design, and he should know more than most about automotive trends. First, I needed to get something off my chest. We all know BMWs are aspirational motor cars, meant to be driven like your hair’s on fire – so what’s the point of handing the fun over to a computer? Emboldened by a few glasses of Madame Pommery’s finest, I put it to him that self-drive cars were inherently boring. ‘Not at all,’ he counters. ‘It is both exciting
52 GQ.co.za February 2017
Drive Opener_Feb'17.indd 1
2016/12/21 10:57 AM