Just a couple of months after Rolls-Royce unveiled its Vision Next 100, a frankly weird take on what the driverless car of the future may look like, Mercedes dazzled visitors to the recent Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with its own interpretation of the luxury coupe of tomorrow. Also dubbed Vision, the slippery, gullwing Mercedes-Maybach 6 is as dramatically beautiful as the Roller is bizarre, though its 5.7-metre length (hence the “6”) does make it more than a tad impractical for a car that can only accommodate four passengers – and that at an absolute pinch. Powered by a 550kW (around 750bhp) electric motor, the Maybach offers supercar acceleration, a limited maximum speed of 250km/h and a range of around 500km, though unlike the Rolls, which would be controlled entirely by artificial intelligence, the provision of a steering wheel suggests at least some degree of human involvement. Nonetheless – and in spite of the retro styling that references aero coupes of the 1930s and ’50s – it’s all pretty space-age, from the windscreen that also serves as a full-width information display to in-seat sensors that control airconditioning, massage functions and even ambient lighting.
