Mercedes-Benz’s Vision Tokyo Concept: A Self-Driving Rave Van

Mercedes calls the five-seat electric van a “a chill-out zone in the midst of megacity traffic mayhem” that “reflects the growing youthfulness” of Mercedes. And in Japan, where vans of many shapes and sizes rule the highways, the overall shape isn’t so far out — although the panoramic sweeping windshield has more in common with speedboats than cars.

Powered by electric motors, the Vision Tokyo rides on massive 26-inch wheels that spin around glowing wheel hubs. Power comes from a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell system with zero emissions that’s capable of traveling 608 miles between refills—another sign that fuel-cell tech may yet have a future.

While it looks like a windowless Blade Runner bread van, the designers actually put screen-printed, body-colored vinyl over the side windows and single gullwing side door, like that used in bus advertising, to create the privacy effect.

As with the F105 concept from earlier this year, the grille of the Vision Tokyo car is filled with LEDs that change color and flash depending on driving modes—although here, they seem to be applied mostly toward giving passers-by an EQ-light show.

Of course the Vision Toyko is a self-driving car, and while just a few months ago Mercedes’ executives were saying their cars would always have steering wheels, most of the other controls for a driver have been minimized. The driver’s seat will stow away for when the car itself does all of the work.

It’s the interior that gets most of Mercedes’ designers attention — a limo-like space that gives in to the idea of car as nightclub first and transportation second. Mercedes says if the car is driving itself, the imagined occupants would rather “chill and chat” than be forced to face forward.

Yes, somehow Mercedes believes that the car of the future will have its entertainment systems controlled by 3-D holograms.

Even the seats are perforated to show off glowing LEDs.

The Tokyo Motor Show often features the world’s wildest concepts, and in that context Mercedes’ van doesn’t seem so alien. Yet it posits a time where the essential act of driving has fallen to the priority level we assign household chores today—something to be dispensed with by machine, while we rave on.