Don’t sleep on Dominic’s Stained Glass Driverless Car of the Future

A set of photographs from 2014 depict Dominic Wilcox’s vision of the future of transport. One photo shows the base and wheels of a car covered with a stained glass dome. The glass throws a kaleidoscope of colours onto the wall behind the stationary vehicle that looks far from ordinary.

Photo: Sylvain Deleu

Another photo sees the automobile on an outdoor path, smaller than your standard car, whizzing along with seemingly no one there to steer it.

A third shows the Little Inventors founder sleeping soundly amongst bed covers beneath the colourful dome, unbothered by what are surely pedestrians and surrounding traffic outside.

Photo: Sylvain Deleu

The images were taken when Dominic’s Stained Glass Driverless Car of the Future was newly created, entering our world at a time where autonomous driving was no longer such an unfamiliar concept albeit a technology that was far from developed.

Dominic said of the car’s conception: “I propose that in the year 2059, it will be statistically proven that it is safer to ride in a computer controlled ‘driverless’ vehicle than to ride in a human driven vehicle. In fact in 2058 there were no collisions on the Digital M1 motorway where only driverless vehicles are allowed.

“This means that driverless vehicles will not require the typical safety equipment we see on current cars such as airbags and bumpers. We will simply require a living space on wheels. The technology of the motor and driverless, automated navigation system will be held within a standard, modular chassis, onto which any living space shell can be built.”

As such, the Stained Glass Driverless Car of the Future’s living space boasts a comfortable bed. The occupant can catch up on some sleep as the car travels to their destination of choice.

Photo: Dominic Wilcox

Dominic was not without help in building his concept car: “I was greatly assisted in the making of the chassis base and wooden support frame for the glass by the team at Middlesex University's Product Design department. I then moved the frame to a stained glass workshop called Lead and Light in Camden.”

The prototype’s first pit stop was with Dezeen. Dominic developed the vehicle to appear in the Dezeen and MINI Frontiers Exhibition as part of the London Design Festival. Six cutting-edge designers displayed an incarnation of their vision for the future of mobility.

Photo: The Core

Dominic’s creation was the subject of VICE and Slate articles and travelled to the Science Museum in 2019 to feature in the Driverless: Who is in Control? exhibition.

The Design Museum put it on display inside of their Tank, much to the intrigue of the passing people of London.

Photo: Design Museum

The latest home of the car, where it was exhibited from October to May of this year, was the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

It was part of an installation that encouraged visitors to think about what sort of features could make up futuristic cars, as the vehicles on show bridged the gap between the standard car and the car of dreams.

Photo: Thierry Le Gall/Automobile-Museums

The car recently said goodbye to the museum and is in the process of being returned to Dominic’s care while it looks for its next parking spot.

The concept of autonomous driving is a burgeoning but controversial one. Ford recently announced that its BlueCruise technology will allow UK drivers to take their hands off the wheel. It is only available in one model as of yet. However, for many car manufacturers who foresaw far greater advancements in self-driving cars than have been achieved today, it seems the progression of autonomous driving is chugging along far slower than anticipated.

Regardless, widespread rumination on the future of transport has generated a desire and interest in the Stained Glass Driverless Car of the Future for almost a decade.

Perhaps it’s not such an outlandish thought to imagine a road where changing lanes and honking horns do not disturb the sleeping driver along for the ride.