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This striking-looking machine is the Peugeot Instinct Concept, which previews the marque's move towards fully autonomous cars in the future.
Styled as a shooting brake, the Instinct has been unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It's a 300hp plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), with two overriding 'Drive' and 'Autonomous' modes, according to whether the driver feels like taking control of the car, or handing over the reins to the on-board electronics.
Those settings are each split into two themselves: there's Drive Boost and Drive Relax; and Autonomous Soft and Autonomous Sharp. As the names suggest, they play up either the car's power and performance, or its smooth ride and luxury, according to the mood of the driver.
The on-board technology also includes an 'Internet of Things' platform and the Samsung Artik Cloud, which syncs with the user's devices. This allows the Instinct Concept to 'learn' its owner's lifestyle and preconfigure its settings accordingly. So, if you've been to the gym and you're pooped after a full work-out, the car checks the data from a smartwatch and switches into Autonomous Soft for a relaxing journey home.
Outside, the bodywork isn't just designed to look good but it's also aerodynamically optimised, while each LED headlamp houses a camera that scans the road ahead and feeds back information to the driving assistance systems.
Inside is a typically outlandish interior that Peugeot calls Responsive i-Cockpit, but seeing as the company has recently fitted some daring cabins to its production cars, this might not be as far from the showrooms as we suspect. Mind you, with a steering wheel and throttle pedal that can both fold away out of sight when in Autonomous modes, and seats that can be laid horizontally for 'resting' periods, we might be over-egging the pudding when we say it could make production any time soon...
Anything else?
Matthias Hossann, head of Peugeot Concept cars, said: "With the Peugeot Instinct Concept and its Responsive i-Cockpit, we are building on the factors that have made the brand's latest models so successful. We are creating new forms of driving pleasure. These may come from the interfaces, the architecture or the styling. There is no reason why a self-driving car should be dull to look at or to experience."