On August 19th 2016, Mercedes-Benz presented its much anticipated concept iteration of the Maybach brand at Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance in California —  the exquisite Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6.

The 2+2 coupe totaled nearly 20ft in length, and boasted everything from gull wing doors reminiscent of the iconic 1954 300 SL, to a claimed 738-horsepower electric monstrosity under the massive hood. Swooping yet minimal lines run the length of the body draw inspiration from nautical design language, incorporating classic Mercedes-Benz profiles of old to create an absolutely stunning form.

“With its intelligent appeal and reduced, technoid look, it perfectly embodies our design philosophy of sensual purity and our pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency,” said Gorden Wagener, head of design for Daimler AG in a press release.

The vehicle looked slick and slippery, and this desire for aerodynamic efficiency was likely both an aesthetic and functional choice, as a reduction in wind-resistance correlates with improved travel range of the electric power-train. Interestingly, although the interior extensively utilized screens, both for vehicle information and to augment up to 50% of the windshield with geographic and misc. data read outs, there has been no mention of the vehicle featuring autonomous functionality.

Although Mercedes-Benz has been quite secretive regarding possible production of the vehicle, and currently maintains the vehicle is just a concept, we firmly believe it would sure give the Rolls-Royce Wraith a run for its money – let’s see what unfolds when the Mercedes-Maybach makes its debut, if ever.

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The Copen is a typically Japanese adorable little 2 seater. It already offers fully swappable body panels, so creating fun and funky 3D-printed versions is a natural extension of that program. The new panels themselves are a mix of bubbles, geometric shapes, and organic structures.

As it stands this is a small move made by a niche player, but fast forward a year or so and you shouldn’t be surprised to find Mercedes, BMW or especially Tesla offering something similar on their premium cars to allow customers to create truly custom cars. Get rid of the funky moonscape designs, replace them with monograms or crests and you’ve got something right up Rolls Royce’s alley.

So what would you 3D-print onto one of your car’s body panels?

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One need look back no farther than the advent and popularization of the automobile itself to predict what is coming for it now. That’s right, we’ve been through this before. Back in your daddy’s day, horses were all that – part transport, part pet. They had terrible downsides like obnoxious waste products, annoying feeding necessities, and the proclivity to run amok and kill people. Then along came Benz and Ford and in no time at all horses were pushed out of city centers, then whole towns (sounding familiar yet?), and before too long horses were seen purely as an extravagance and a hobby only. No more horse ownership for the masses. As it currently stands, yes anyone can still own a horse – but it has to be kept and used in very specific places and it is generally seen as a hobby for the well off.

Looking at what this history lesson means for us, I expect to live to eventually see the day when autonomous vehicles take over big cities, then small, then all streets and cars as we know them are really only run at race tracks by wealthy enthusiasts. Driving on city streets will eventually become illegal. Our children will look back and laugh that we were allowed to, even wanted to, pilot 3,000lb death machines that drank precious oil and spat out killer gases. This has always been a mad activity, but I love it nonetheless. Autonomous vehicles are going to eat our everyday hobby, and there’s little we can do about it. Enjoy your nighttime cruises through sleeping cities, or ocean cliff blasts on a Saturday afternoon, because these days are officially numbered. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go drive.

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That’s not to say that Goodman doesn’t present positive steps forward or solutions to our collective level of screwed, but the eye opening facts in Future Crimes are the anecdotes and statistics about just how naive we are about all our connected devices. Having spent his career in cybercrime for everyone from the LAPD to Interpol, Goodman certainly knows what he’s talking about. In addition to his excellent TED Talk, he has lectured around the world and even teaches at the prestigious Silicon Valley Singularity University. He knows what he’s talking about is what I’m saying here. So when he says that we are in danger of losing the race to “own” our technology, we should probably listen up.

Reading this book, you’ll see stories of technology crimes you’re familiar with (the Target data breach for example) and others honestly too horrible to make the nightly news (like the international online auctioning of child rape). It’s these kinds of distributed crimes that we now have to deal with, and our own lax attitude towards mobile and connected devices is largely at fault. Future Crimes isn’t all doom and gloom however. Not only does a reading of this book make you want to immediately drop everything and become a cybercriminal (Don’t. You will get caught.), but Goodman offers up solutions we can take as individuals, as well as collectively at the government level.

We don’t a review a lot books here on FactoryTwoFour, and I’m loathe to call Future Crimes or any other book a “must read,” but let’s just say I strongly encourage you to pick this one up and read for yourself both the hidden world we are living in, and the one we could very well inhabit if we are not careful.

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