What Will We Be Driving in 2057?

At next month's L.A. auto show, major automakers reveal their visions of what cars will be in fifty years

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As part of the LA Auto Show Design Challenge, several major manufacturers have submitted blue-sky design concepts showing where they feel automotive design will go in the next 50 years. From Nissan's friendly family assistant to Mercedes' liquid-metal convertible and Toyota's pollution-chewing roller/strider, the submissions are an exciting and thought-provoking look at where the next half a century will take us in personal and family mobility.

Motoring has taken some incredible leaps forward in the last 50 years, with unforeseen new technologies making cars faster, safer, cleaner, more comfortable, more economical, more reliable, harder to steal, easier to navigate and easier to drive. Imagine what the next 50 years will hold! The LA Auto Show Design Challenge asked a number of major manufacturers to submit their biggest, best blue-sky concepts for the cars of the year 2057 -- and the designers' submissions are in.

Some key issues the designers foresaw in coming up with their submissions were the advancement of overpopulation, scarcity of fossil resources, extreme fragility of the environment and high levels of traffic congestion.

Common themes among the submitted designs include:

• Fluid designs and materials that can be reconfigured into different "modes" on the go to provide the optimum vehicle in a range of situations -- achieving a compact, maneuverable footprint for commuting and a stretched, aerodynamic form for freeways and faster driving;

• Artificial Intelligence to allow vehicles to be operated with little or no input from the user;

• Advanced fuel systems using multiple energy sources to achieve excellent economy and power while minimizing or indeed reversing environmental damage;

• "Organic" design that mimics and responds to natural forms;

• Omni-directional drives instead of simple forward/reverse wheels.

Each of the entries is summarized below:

Audi Virtuea Quattro

It's the year 2057 and Audi envisions a hydrogen-powered vehicle that combines artificial intelligence with avenues of self expression.