Remember concept cars from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the ones that were less production teasers and more way-out-in-left-field crazy? Cars like the Aston Martin Bulldog, Buick Wildcat, and Chrysler Voyager III, things made to stir up thought more than present a possible future vehicle? Yeah…this goes well beyond that. This concept Chevrolet, unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show, is more like the 1950s rocket-car concept car that is so impractical that you can’t believe someone spent money on it, yet here it is in the flesh for you to openly retch at behold. Meet the Chevrolet FNR, which stands for “find new roads”.
Here’s everything you want or need to know about the FNR: It’s not meant to be a car that you get in and drive. This is Chevy’s first take at the automated pod. The FNR is a fully automated, self driving vehicle, and the seats are turned towards each other so that the humans inside can converse and have a good time, instead of doing whatever normal humans do anymore, which usually involves a phone or tablet. There isn’t a key…instead, the FNR has iris recognition software, because hey, that isn’t creepy in the least bit. The roof has radar to assist the automation systems, the headlights and taillights are lit with crystal laser technology, and motion comes from ” magnetic hubless electric motors” in each wheel.
This is not a car, this is a modern art masterpiece. Which means that it should be locked away in a museum and people should be charged ten dollars to look at it while trying to figure out just what it is.
(Courtesy: Jalopnik)
I opposed to self driving cars in general, but if they do come out I hope they are nothing like this monstrosity. They should be more like the back seat of a Rolls Royce with enough head room to stand up, a fold out bed/recliner, a bar and a 60″ TV. It would be cool for a long trip like to the Farmall museum or something.
Work of art my lily white arse ! More like pretentious waste of money on a butt ugly futile concept with zero viability and no future from a company still so deeply in debt all bets are another bailout is on the horizon before the end of the decade .
Maybe if GM would start focusing on engineering and quality versus pie in the sky bull**** and propaganda ….. maybe …. just maybe the now little corporal [ formerly the General … and about to be demoted further to Buck Private ] might actually come up with something worth buying
Bu hell …. who am I kidding ? GM hasn’t had its eyes on the script for going on the last 40 years …. they sure as hell aint about to start now
Ahhh … America the Beautiful .. so lets see now … Chrysler/Dodge/JEEP is in the process of morphing from rebadged decades old Mercedes to rebadged decades old FIAT’s …. Ford’s lost the plot and gone down the Rabbit Hole with their EcoSnooze bull*** … GM hasn’t had its eye on the prize since the 60’s … Hmmmn …. America the Beautiful alright . Too bad we can’t say the same about the Not So Big Three ….. aint it ? 😉
For the record, this isn’t GM’s first nonfunctional concept car to pitch a self driving system – that would be the Firebird IV, in 1964. This one could also be driven manually, but its front seats also swiveled around so you could have the same seating configuration as the FNR.
More about the Firebird IV here:
http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2005/06/01/hmn_feature15.html
And some pictures:
http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1964_gm_firebird_iv/
When are car companies going to realize that this unbelievably ugly Tron/huge wheels/massive wheel arches/bumpers that suit freight trains look has to end? I can’t think of the profanity that would do this concept/crapcept cars justice. I’d rather see a copy of a 1941 Willys I could buy other than this rubbish, and truly, who of us gearheads likes the thought of self driven cars? Technology aside, there isn’t enough Ben Franklins out there to get me to put my hide in the passenger seat.
Sorry, Thursday rant.
🙂
FNR = Fucking not right
FNR – that’s the sound of me barfing!
The words Chevy and driverless make me cringe – any Ford lover know that this hunka shit will go straight into suicide mode and destroy both itself and its sad driver in a low-grade thermo nuclear explosion – and then the recall message will appear after all of them have nearly destroyed our planet!