Somehow, though, having a person in the driver’s seat face you while the car is moving is slightly less disturbing than watching someone refuse to put his hands on the wheel.

In this concept vehicle, any passenger could theoretically drive. When in manual mode, the car is operated with pedals and a steering wheel, just like a traditional car. But in autonomous mode, it’s meant to be controlled with touch interfaces — there are few physical buttons — gestures and even eye-tracking.

The touch-screen panels let any passenger request control of the car and then adjust the car’s speed and dynamics (sort of like switching from standard to “sport” mode) by dragging a little image of the car to speed up or slow down.

The screens also display features like points of interest along your route, or location-based information about your friends. The future vehicle has access to your contacts, and if your contacts are sharing their locations, a friend’s face might pop up in the interior display if they’re near where you’re driving.

You can project any image you like onto the screens, and then rotate it using touch. Mercedes designers sketched a vision of a long, boring commute where you could entertain yourself with pictures of your family, a nicer landscape or photos of a recent vacation.

Seems pleasant enough. Ultimately, though, the F 015’s vision is a bit confused.

The vehicle might be perfect as a high-end taxi or a shared vehicle. One of the predictions for a future shaped by self-driving cars is that we will require far fewer of them, because the cars can autonomously pick up passengers, like a giant robotic fleet.

The F 015, if not designed to be a personal car, fits the bill. It’s extremely large, although the sloping roof of the car is low. Our German tour guide, who stood well over 6 feet, was jammed uncomfortably against the ceiling. And many details, like the table in the center and the shareable display panels, seemed designed for transporting multiple people.