A blockchain-powered sports car and a selfie-enabled steering wheel are just two of the motoring innovations that won’t be coming to a highway near you soon.
Car companies have lent into the annual tradition of jokingly fake news stories for April Fools’ Day this year with the usual mixture of vigour and occasionally badly judged humour.
Read more: Fake news: The best UAE April Fool's gags of 2018
One of the most cutting yet strangely least outlandish is Honda’s dig at the new market for convertible small SUVs, sent up in its mock campaign for the CR-V “Roadster”, seen above. The car appears not to be a fictional Photoshop creation, however – rather it is a regular CR-V with its roof lopped off that looks like it barely survived a fight between a low bridge and a blowtorch. “Our sales target is somewhat conservative to start with, at zero cars,” a pretend company spokesman lied.
Chevrolet got in on the act by announcing its “revolutionary” selfie steering wheel, which gives drivers a hands-free solution to getting that perfect Insta-ready shot while on the road. The American carmaker mocked up a shot of a steering wheel with a camera button in the style of its current interiors, and even went so far as to give the made-up innovation a projected price – social-media fans may be sad to know that US$200 (Dh735) won’t actually equip their car with a high-resolution 4G camera.
One of the silliest comes from Middle East finance website Yallacompare.com, via its somewhat ridiculous Yallacar. At least half of the features on the “fully autonomous, decentralised, blockchain-based, 3-D-printed, electric car” aren’t actually that pie-in-the-sky, making the joke fall somewhat flat, but full marks for trying, folks – and for a whole 15 minutes spent on the rendering, seen below.
Parents worldwide will be cursing the fact that Skoda is only pulling our collective leg with its latest technology, meanwhile: a noise-cancelling headrest to drown out the whines and wobblies of young back-seat passengers. The accompanying promotional video shows a slightly smug father pushing the “Shhh!” button on his Karoq’s touchscreen, activating two pulsating green discs on his seat that emit “anti-scream” sound waves. Now that really would be an innovation to shout about.
________________
Read more:
[ We test Super Cruise, Cadillac’s new hands-free semi-autonomous tech ]
[ Driverless cars: what are the biggest obstacles? ]
[ Driverless cars: Industry expert predicts full automation by 2024 ]
Latest from The National's Motoring section
________________
