Smooshed hips. No view. Awkward legroom: Nobody likes the middle seat. But Nissan's sleek, four-door electric IMs concept car, unveiled in January at the North American International Auto Show, transforms the miserable middle seat into a foldout throne. Queens and kings can even turn the seats on either side into jumbo armrests. The manufacturer's remixed seating hierarchy is one of the wilder expressions of what designers can do when they don't have to build a car around gas—no big engine up front means more space to play with.
In coming years, the interiors of electric cars will get even more fun and funky as other technological changes gain traction. Once cars drive themselves (even if only some of the time), passengers could, say, stop wanting to look straight ahead. The front seats of the IMs swivel by 15 degrees. Enough, notes Nissan design chief Alfonso Albaisa, for you to see your fellow travelers. Rear-hinged doors and a panoramic glass roof make the space feel even more open and expansive. “It's like stepping into a theater,” Albaisa says. Enjoy the show.
Alex Davies (@adavies47) runs the Transportation channel on WIRED.com. He's writing a book on the creation of the self-driving car, to be published by Simon & Schuster.
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