By Steven Symes 
It’s 2025 and not only do we have a growing number of nanny electronics “helping” you drive, and Mercedes thinks it’s a good idea to offer IMAX movies to play on you dash screen. We wish this were parody or just a bad joke, but instead the German automaker is bragging about this innovation it announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
These are the riskiest roads in America.
If you didn’t already know, Mercedes has been offering an in-vehicle entertainment service called RIDEVU for a bit now. The automaker is careful to say the driver can only access movies and such while the transmission is in park. But you can play movies on the center screen in the dash while the car is moving.
It’s not like there aren’t people watching movies or TV shows using their phone or tablet while they’re “driving.” If you search different social media platforms, it isn’t hard to find videos where drivers are caught doing exactly that.
Plus, there are companies which make steering wheel hub mounts for iPads. You know, to watch a flick and maybe turn you iPad into a claymore when the airbag ignites.
Mercedes has been pushing all kinds of safety technologies in its cars, so we find it a bit ironic that it’s also doing things like this. Yes, a lot of drivers will be responsible and not try watching something while they’re behind the wheel. But it doesn’t take a genius to know some just can’t resist the temptation and that’s where things get scary.
In a way, we feel like we’re reaching the end game on ridiculous onboard features for cars. Not only do we have screens galore and a lack of physical switches in so many modern rides, automakers are installing video games in vehicles. We remember back when cars were primarily designed as transportation instead of the smartphone on wheels they’re becoming today.
Image via Mercedes-Benz