Mercedes CEO: Self-Driving Vehicle That Picks You Up

Mercedes-Benz set the automotive world on fire earlier this year with one of their concept machines, and the German automaker might have found a way to mix self-driving cars into the sharing economy.

Mercedes-Benz CEO, Dieter Zetsche, spoke about driverless cars at the Frankfurt auto show and lit up our imaginations. Zetsche spoke about the potential for Mercedes to develop self-driving cars. According to Reuters, Zetsche said, “This (self-driving cars) is a concrete development goal of ours. It would be even more convenient if the car came to you autonomously.” Zetsche was referring to Daimler developing autonomous vehicles that not only drive themselves, but drive themselves to pick you up. If Daimler rolled out some type of self-driving, mobile ride hailing product, it could be truly invasive. It could also be incredibly luxurious and eye-catching. Enter the Mercedes F015 Luxury.

Debuted at the CES, the F015 looked very much the part of a Minority Report prop, however it’s a vehicle Mercedes could eventually put into production. The futuristic vehicle could be combined with organizations that Daimler already owns – Car2Go. That combination isn’t mere speciation. Zetsche also said at the Frankfurt auto show, “And it would be extremely practical if the Car2Go appeared without needing to be prompted, once my appointment in the calendar had come to an end.”

Thus Daimler could create a self-driving vehicle program that has a vehicle waiting for you after your meeting or appointment is over. While no specific plan on what his organization will do was given, Zetsche also told said at the Frankfurt auto show that there is a lot of potential when it comes to integrating self-driving technology with ride-sharing or mobile taxi services. According to Reuters, Zetsche said, “I think you don’t need too much imagination to see that by combining these strengths, attractive business models are possible.”

Do you think that Zetsche is talking about things in terms of potential or do you think Daimler will really develop luxury on-the-go self-driving machines that comes to pick up consumers? What kind of competition will Tesla and Uber provide as the two could collaborate on a half million autonomous car deal ahead of 2020. Finally, how will retail automotive be impacted by the popularity of both ride-sharing and self-driving machines?