This is the Honda Augmented Driving Concept

After that weird Avatar-themed Mercedes, Toyota’s city and Sony’s surprise saloon, welcome to the next weird thing to come out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Honda’s Augmented Driving Concept is supposed to bridge the gap between conventional and autonomous driving. The company says the concept can switch “seamlessly” between manual and autonomous drive modes, of which it has no fewer than eight offering varying degrees of assistance, and that the system is always on stand-by, with lots of sensors pointed at the driver to predict when they want to relinquish control.

The way you control the car in manual mode is unusual, too. To start it you pat the steering wheel twice, to speed up you push the steering wheel away from you, and to slow down you pull it towards you.

This roofless four-seater is quite clearly a fair distance away from reality, though it is quite cute. Honda doesn’t specify what it’s powered by, but we’d guess some kind of electric drivetrain. Because of course. 

Do you like the look of Honda’s future?