 I'm Sean O'Kane and I'm in the Mercedes Smart Vision EQ. And if I get scared, here's my emergency cutoff. Oh god, here we go. Tell my family I love them. I'll be back from the future at some point. Okay, so it's day four, day five of CES and it's midnight, so that's why I'm having trouble figuring out what day it is. And we're about to head to the Las Vegas strip because Mercedes wants to put us in the car that they think is going to be what we're all going to be riding in in 2030. The Smart Vision EQ was announced late last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show and this was the first time that Mercedes has brought it to the United States. It was the kind of opportunity I didn't want to pass up to see this weird futuristic idea from one of the world's biggest and oldest automakers. It was pretty chaotic when we got there. Mercedes had shut down a whole section of Las Vegas Boulevard, had dozens of people coordinating the whole thing, and a ton of tourists were trying to snap photos or yell questions about just what exactly they were seeing. I should be clear, this is not driving itself like it is supposed to someday. There's literally a guy with a bunch of joysticks in a bag who's going to be driving us down this strip, so let's see how this goes. So here we go, we're moving. None of the stuff in here is actually really working. I mean, the screen is lighting up and showing us a demo, but I'm touching it and it's not doing anything. It's not an actual touch screen. These are like speakers or cameras or lights or something, but I can't really tell. This is really just like a mock-up of what Mercedes thinks a self-driving car would be like in 2030. Something that you would order on your phone and have come pick you up so that you can go out to wherever it is you want to go. It's based off of the Smart Fortwo, so an actual car that's on the road today, which is why it might look a little bit similar to you if you've ever seen some of those flashier, newer smart cars, but obviously redesigned with a whole bunch of future flair. You've got these crazy blue lights, these doors that scissor up and down and sound like they're in a sci-fi movie. We've got lights along the floor, a big screen on the front that says like, Las Vegas Boulevard, and like, watch out, and all these things to sort of signal the pedestrians. We're obviously also not going very fast, as you can see, and everybody's taking pictures. We're just crawling along the strip. We're actually headed towards a parked truck right now. All right, we're stopped. Oh, now we're moving backwards. What's really funny is there's this giant windshield that just stretches from the front of the dashboard all the way to the back, which is cool because we're on the Las Vegas strip. We can see everything that's happening. Like, there's Planet Hollywood. There's the Paris. That's still Planet Hollywood. I never knew Planet Hollywood was so big. All of this, the see-through design, the giant screen, has to do with how Mercedes thinks we'll one day use a fully self-driving car. And while some companies imagine them as workspaces or store experiences, the SmartVision EQ is all about turning your car into a rolling smartphone ride with things like your favorite entertainment or social media accounts available right in the dashboard. Now, maybe that's a good idea or not. I can tell you right now, though, that the idea of my Twitter feed scrolling by on the dashboard of a self-driving car is already giving me nightmares. Oh, there's a picture of a turtle, and it's got 203 likes. That has more. The turtle from the future has more likes than my Instagram posts. So we've gone back and forth down the street a couple times now, and so here's as much as I can tell you going 12 miles an hour in a remote-controlled version of this car. I get it. Like, I get what Mercedes is really trying to do here. There's no steering wheel. There's no pedals. You hail the car. You hop in. You've got your smartphone apps connected, your social media, your entertainment, and you don't have to worry. You can just take it and enjoy the view, and that all sounds great, but there's so much more work to be done to get the technology, the automotive technology ready to get self-driving cars to this level that by the time we get there, by the time we get to 2030, so much more is going to change that it's hard to say how close this really is to what we'll eventually be riding. So it's nice that Mercedes is thinking about these things. It is sweet to see that they're willing to put this much work into making sure everybody knows that they're thinking about these things, but for right now, it's just another sort of stab in the dark at what our future of moving around looks like. So for more weird self-driving cars, electric cars, rideables, all the crazy stuff we've seen this week at CES 2018, go to youtube.com slash the verge and click subscribe, and while you're at it, go to the verge.com slash CES. Everything else we've done this week is there and so much more. Thanks for watching.
 I'm Sean O'Kane and I'm in the Mercedes Smart Vision EQ.
 And if I get scared, here's my emergency cutoff.
 Oh god, here we go.
 Tell my family I love them.
 I'll be back from the future at some point.
 Okay, so it's day four, day five of CES and it's midnight, so that's why I'm having trouble
 figuring out what day it is.
 And we're about to head to the Las Vegas strip because Mercedes wants to put us in the car
 that they think is going to be what we're all going to be riding in in 2030.
 The Smart Vision EQ was announced late last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show and this
 was the first time that Mercedes has brought it to the United States.
 It was the kind of opportunity I didn't want to pass up to see this weird futuristic idea
 from one of the world's biggest and oldest automakers.
 It was pretty chaotic when we got there.
 Mercedes had shut down a whole section of Las Vegas Boulevard, had dozens of people
 coordinating the whole thing, and a ton of tourists were trying to snap photos or yell
 questions about just what exactly they were seeing.
 I should be clear, this is not driving itself like it is supposed to someday.
 There's literally a guy with a bunch of joysticks in a bag who's going to be driving us down
 this strip, so let's see how this goes.
 So here we go, we're moving.
 None of the stuff in here is actually really working.
 I mean, the screen is lighting up and showing us a demo, but I'm touching it and it's not
 doing anything.
 It's not an actual touch screen.
 These are like speakers or cameras or lights or something, but I can't really tell.
 This is really just like a mock-up of what Mercedes thinks a self-driving car would be
 like in 2030.
 Something that you would order on your phone and have come pick you up so that you can
 go out to wherever it is you want to go.
 It's based off of the Smart Fortwo, so an actual car that's on the road today, which
 is why it might look a little bit similar to you if you've ever seen some of those flashier,
 newer smart cars, but obviously redesigned with a whole bunch of future flair.
 You've got these crazy blue lights, these doors that scissor up and down and sound like
 they're in a sci-fi movie.
 We've got lights along the floor, a big screen on the front that says like, Las Vegas Boulevard,
 and like, watch out, and all these things to sort of signal the pedestrians.
 We're obviously also not going very fast, as you can see, and everybody's taking pictures.
 We're just crawling along the strip.
 We're actually headed towards a parked truck right now.
 All right, we're stopped.
 Oh, now we're moving backwards.
 What's really funny is there's this giant windshield that just stretches from the front
 of the dashboard all the way to the back, which is cool because we're on the Las Vegas
 strip.
 We can see everything that's happening.
 Like, there's Planet Hollywood.
 There's the Paris.
 That's still Planet Hollywood.
 I never knew Planet Hollywood was so big.
 All of this, the see-through design, the giant screen, has to do with how Mercedes thinks
 we'll one day use a fully self-driving car.
 And while some companies imagine them as workspaces or store experiences, the SmartVision EQ is
 all about turning your car into a rolling smartphone ride with things like your favorite
 entertainment or social media accounts available right in the dashboard.
 Now, maybe that's a good idea or not.
 I can tell you right now, though, that the idea of my Twitter feed scrolling by on the
 dashboard of a self-driving car is already giving me nightmares.
 Oh, there's a picture of a turtle, and it's got 203 likes.
 That has more.
 The turtle from the future has more likes than my Instagram posts.
 So we've gone back and forth down the street a couple times now, and so here's as much
 as I can tell you going 12 miles an hour in a remote-controlled version of this car.
 I get it.
 Like, I get what Mercedes is really trying to do here.
 There's no steering wheel.
 There's no pedals.
 You hail the car.
 You hop in.
 You've got your smartphone apps connected, your social media, your entertainment, and
 you don't have to worry.
 You can just take it and enjoy the view, and that all sounds great, but there's so much
 more work to be done to get the technology, the automotive technology ready to get self-driving
 cars to this level that by the time we get there, by the time we get to 2030, so much
 more is going to change that it's hard to say how close this really is to what we'll
 eventually be riding.
 So it's nice that Mercedes is thinking about these things.
 It is sweet to see that they're willing to put this much work into making sure everybody
 knows that they're thinking about these things, but for right now, it's just another sort
 of stab in the dark at what our future of moving around looks like.
 So for more weird self-driving cars, electric cars, rideables, all the crazy stuff we've
 seen this week at CES 2018, go to youtube.com slash the verge and click subscribe, and while
 you're at it, go to the verge.com slash CES.
 Everything else we've done this week is there and so much more.
 Thanks for watching.