The car in the year 2020

Nope, the human transporter known as the Segway is not the future of the automobile. If things go as General Motors foresees them, the future of the automobile is in a vehicle it has christened Autonomy.

GM unveiled the Autonomy at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The vehicle is actually just a chassis which serves as a docking station to a passenger shell. It doesn’t have an engine, but within its thin, skateboard-like structure are high-tech equipment such as fuel cells, telematics, heat pump and hydrogen storage tank.

Measuring just six inches thick, 14 feet long and just over six feet wide, the chassis sits on oversized tires which are driven by separate electric motors that generate 40 hp each.

The Autonomy banks on two future technologies, namely fuel cells and drive-by-wire systems. With these two technologies, GM designers were able to throw the century-old rulebook of automotive design out the window.

Larry Burns, GM vice president, said a variety of bodies – from a 10-passenger sport wagon to a one-seat sports car – can be docked to the chassis, making the Autonomy the most versatile car the world has ever seen.

Burns believes the Autonomy could be ready for the market by 2020. "This is not just a design exercise. We’ll have a drivable concept within a year," he said.