Chevy FNR teases a sexy, electric, autonomous driving future

If the stunning Chevrolet FNR concept vehicle unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2015 on Sunday, is any indication, the near future of driving — or is it not driving — looks exactly like something out of your favorite sci-fi movies.

"What we did with this car is we asked the engineering team to visualize what a car will look like in 2020," said Mike Albano, communications director for Chevrolet.

The Chevy FNR features an unusual set of dragonfly doors.

IMAGE: CHEVROLET

Fully electric and autonomous, the FNR features a hubless, magnetic wheel system with, naturally, dragonfly doors. Inside and out, the FNR is slate gray with blue LED accent lights on the wheels and in the interior. The wraparound dashboard looks unlike anything you’ve ever seen in a traditional car. Even the mesh seats look as if they were transported from the 22nd century.

The front seats can, in autonomous mode, swivel around to face the back seats. Albano thinks self-driving cars could make us more productive, "For everyone around the word, time is a key commodity and autonomy would deliver that. If you can take the hands off the steering wheel, you can do other things," he told Mashable

When you're ready to take the wheel again, you can do so via a gesture.

Don't want to drive? Chevy FNR's two front seats can pivot to face the back, while it does the driving.

IMAGE: CHEVROLET

The FNR is also notable because it's a mid-sized sedan. "A lot of electric vehicles are typically smaller vehicles, to keep latent mass down. This was an exercise in what could you do with a mid-sized sedan," said Albano.

Chevy is already selling all-electric vehicles, albeit ones that don't look nearly as sick as the FNR. The company has, Albano said, sold more than 60,000 Chevy Volts. Albano admitted that the market for these kinds of cars remains relatively small.

A closer look at the Chevy FNR interior and seat design.

IMAGE: CHEVROLET

What we really want to know, though, is can the Chevy FNR drive today? The answer is yes, sort of.

"It drives at very low speeds," said Albano.

The doors do open and the interior lights up, but autonomy is not yet functional. Though Albano was quick to add that Chevy has numerous semi-autonomous cars driving around their test tracks right now.

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