Now we know what that "mystery" Benz from two months ago was all about. It's their autonomous driving concept and it's set to be unveiled next week.

Well this just puts Google's efforts to shame doesn't it? It's never fair when one of the big boys decides to have a crack at building what you're building. But we're fine with it because by the looks of things, and by that we only mean its shape, it's going to be one interesting looking car.

From this teaser image, we can tell it has very short front and rear overhangs, and when it has to slow down or stop, the entire rear of the car lights up (yes, they went with a huge brake light).

Another thing we noticed is that there seems to be an array of sensors on its roof, so we're guessing that's where all the goodies are such as cameras and radars, photon torpedoes and whatever else it needs.

Short overhangs also means it should have a spacious interior, which makes sense since if you're not driving yourself, you might as well sit comfortably and not have to worry about perfect driving position, lateral support, adjusting steering wheel, mirrors and so on.

But we can only speculate as to what the cabin looks like. We do expect lots of touchscreen displays and a very cool infotainment system.

Mercedes-Benz have announced that this concept will take center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 5th, 8:00 PM PDT.

Debuts on Monday

The CES announcements continue as Mercedes has released a new teaser image of their autonomous driving concept.

Set to debut on January 5th, the unnamed concept will have a distinctive front fascia with an illuminated star emblem. Additional styling details are hard to make out but a previous teaser image showed the concept will have an extremely aerodynamic body with a rakish windscreen and long sweeping roof.

Mercedes has been tight-lipped about specifications but the interior will have wood floors, premium leather upholstery, a central table and a dashboard with a full-length infotainment system. The concept will also have lounge-style front seats that can swivel to face rear seat passengers.

Mercedes has unveiled the F 015 Luxury in Motion concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Designed to show how autonomous vehicles could be designed, the egg-shaped concept has an aerodynamic exterior with an illuminated grille and a prominent star emblem. The car also has suicide rear doors and a distinctive rear end with a LED message board.

While the exterior styling won't win everyone over, the cabin is elegantly equipped with wood floors and front seats that can swivel around to face rear seat passengers. The concept also has 'intelligent' door panels, a central table and a massive dashboard with a full-length infotainment / instrument cluster for both the driver and front passenger.

Features lounge-like cabin

Following a preview from a few hours ago, Mercedes-Benz has released more images and details with the F 015 Luxury in Motion concept.

Described as being a "self-driving luxury sedan", the F 015 Luxury in Motion concept is Daimler's response to an increasing interest in autonomous vehicles. The interesting egg-shaped concept is 5220mm long, 2018mm wide and 1524mm tall, with a generous 3610mm wheelbase while the B pillars are absent to grant easier access to the lounge-like cabin. For the same purpose, the vehicle's doors open at a 90-degree angle.

The interior cabin hosts features four rotating lounge chairs which can grant a face-to-face seat configuration. Interestingly, as soon as the doors are opened, the electrically-powered seats will automatically swing outwards by 30 degrees. The dashboard hosts no less than six individual displays providing support for touch, gesture and eye tracking functions to diminish distractions as much as possible.

As far as the powertrain is concerned, the concept uses an evolution of the system installed in the 2011 F 125! research vehicle, with a plug-in hydrogen fuel cell electric setup offering a range of 684 miles (1,100 km). Power comes from two rear-mounted electric motors each outputting 134 bhp (100 kW) and 147 lb-ft (199 Nm) sent to the rear axle and granting a combined output of 268 bhp (200 kW) and 294 lb-ft (398 Nm). It's enough for a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) run in 6.7 seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 124 mph (200 km/h).

While the aforementioned F 125! had lithium-sulfur batteries, the F 105 comes with lithium-ion cells that can be charged through an inductive process and offer a range of 124 miles (200 km). The hydrogen necessary to generate electricity on-the-go is stored in 5.4 kg tanks at a 700 bar pressure while covering 62 miles (100 km) will consume just 0.6 kg, with a 559-mile range on the electricity produced using hydrogen.

According to a recent report, Google is preparing to launch a ride-hailing service similar to Uber.

Details are limited but Bloomberg is reporting that Google’s chief legal officer and Uber board member, David Drummond, has informed the rest of Uber's board that Google could soon become a competitor. If the report is correct, it would be an interesting turn of events as Google Ventures invested $258 (€225) million into Uber in 2013.

Little is known about Google's service but it is expected to use their autonomous cars. Bloomberg goes on to say the company has already developed a ride-sharing app for the service and it is already being used by some Google employees.

The tech giant declined to comment on the report but Google's Chris Urmson has previously mentioned their autonomous vehicles could be using in a ride-sharing service where you "... call up the vehicle and tell it where to go and then have it take you there.”