Is Muscle Obsolete? Are Self Driving Sports Cars Cars the Future?

Every few years a new concept car is released that either makes jaws hit the floor, pushes the envelope, or rewrites the rules of car design. This year the Chevy FNR does all three of those things and it does them well. It’s hard to use words to describe the Chevy FNR, but futuristic describes it best.

Introduced at the Shanghai auto show, the FNR shows a new interesting concept in Automotive design right out of a Science fiction movie; an electric powered self driving car. The FNR concept is a self driving, electric powered car that contains its electric motors on each wheel and the front seats can spin around 180 degrees so the drivers can talk to the passengers. Perhaps it even has built in entertainment like the Toyota Fun Vii concept. The car was designed by GM’s Shanghai-based Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center team. Could this concept be the future of automotive design?

What Does the Future Hold?

Will the car of the future look less traditional, less muscular as shown by this concept? Will our beloved rugged, rectangular musclecars be replaced with these capsule based designs? While this car looks pretty damn cool and is certainly going to catch the mainstream public’s eye, what does this mean for hot rodders and gearheads?

While our readers of this site find the greatest enjoyment in getting behind the wheel of their V-8 muscle machine, the general car buying public is a bit lazier and finds driving a chore – which is why a self driving sports car may catch on and perhaps replace our current Camaros and Corvettes.

15 years from now in 2030, if self driving cars become mandatory and this is the best we have, how would you hot rod it? Would you hack into the car and reprogram it so you can take control of the wheel? Would you upgrade the electric motors for more power? Would you make the sound system blast an audio of a 454 to make your ride more enjoyable? Or is this concept too crazy to ever become a reality? Perhaps we are being to harsh on the general car buying public and most still prefer to drive their cars. What’s your take on these futuristic concepts?