Ah, the self-driving car. The dreams of computer nerds, the nightmare of car nerds. Many car makers are scrambling to be the first to really crack the code. Every there seems to be a break in the case, it tends to fail pretty miserably, and it’s usually pretty funny. The Japanese tech company, Kyocera, has programmed a robot to throw its hat into the autonomous-vehicle ring with the very beautiful-looking and retro Kyocera Moeye. 

Don’t be fooled by its looks

Although the Moeye is the latest in cutting-edge tech and made by a smartphone company, it looks like it was plucked right out of a 1950s racing lineup from Fiat. This thing is gorgeous – for something without a steering wheel. According to Autoblog, we ought not to be fooled by the cute vintage wrapper; the Moeye autonomous concept is teeming with super tech.

The lead designer of the Moeye concept wanted to celebrate the history of the automobile in a car meant to show the future of the automobile. 

Self-driving cars don’t have steering wheels

The strangest thing about seeing self-driving concepts is that the main feature of the inside of a car is gone. That’s right! No steering wheel. I guess, if you think about it, there really is no need to build the cabin around a point that isn’t needed.

Some cars have an optional fold-out steering apparatus in case of an emergency. The Moeye has skipped the wheel altogether, and in its place, a cabin-wide screen stretches the length of the dash. It should be no surprise that a smartphone company would replace the steering wheel with a giant phone screen. 

Like a normal dash with gauges and displays, the haptic-touchscreen dash of the Moeye shows all the car readouts your heart could ever desire. Unlike your normal plastic dash, this one can act as a projector for the forward-facing cameras and make your dash appear to be see-through. It is a really bizarre thing to see.

Where it really starts to get next-level sci-fi is the A-pillars also have the same screens, which continue the 3D imaging up until it seamlessly blends with the view from the window.

I know, this sounds like some sort of high-tech active camo, and that’s exactly what Kyocera thinks, too. The Japanese tech giant wants the car to appear invisible from the inside, a full 360-degree view. Kyocera even calls this feature “optical camouflage technology.”

The self-driving car has helper robots

Kyocera feels confident that helper robots are something that is coming soon. The Moeye self-driving concept is trying to run that time table up a bit with “Mobisuke,” a virtual cartoon that will appear on the vast screen to help the passengers with various car features and functions. 

The Moeye self-driving concept car is decorated with lab-grown gems

Maybe the most feature yet is Kyoto Opal, which Kyocera describes as a lab-grown gemstone. I’m assuming that this is simply a design aesthetic feature, but with this future machine, who knows? Lastly, the self-driving robot machine is said to have LED cabin lighting that resembles natural sunlight.  

Kyocera says they don’t plan to become a carmaker, only that they want to design features for other folks. The way Kyocera puts it, it wants to “[develop] unique devices and systems in the mobility segment to enable new automotive concepts and a better user experience.”