Meet the Toyota Fun-Vii, a futuristic concept car that Toyota’s president described as “a smartphone on four wheels”. Smartphone screens have certainly been growing, from 3.5 inches, to four inches, to 4.5 inches, but holy crap, is this the logical conclusion?
Toyota’s concept of the future is a whimsical one, where people would get out of their cars and use the giant touch screen to do some internetting. Also, do you know how expensive body work already is when someone side-swipes your parked car? Now imagine adding the cost of a gigantic, curved, back-lit touchscreen. Kill me now. Maybe you could subsidise the cost by making the side of your car into a mobile billboard.
But you know what, screw reality. Ignoring all of the obvious impracticalities, the Fun-Vii is beautiful. I hate seeing concept cars that look just like the shit we have already. We need more sci-fi in our future, not because things like this are great ideas, but because they are creative, and they inspire a sense of awe and possibility. Don’t you want to live in a world were wild ideas like this are practical? I sure as hell do. [PhyOrg]
Image credit: AP/Koji Sasahara