I'm sure this works much better than the iCar. Haha.

Appirion makes some pretty amazing stuff. Team Berlin's utilization of that technology is impressive. What is equally amazing is how many possibilities a relatively simple accelerometer inside the iPhone has created for developers and how they've taken advantage of those possibilities.

DaimlerChrysler's F200 concept also demonstrates an interesting tendency to design without a physical steering wheel as we know it.

I wonder how we will be controlling our every day drivers in the next couple decades. I'm not sure if these new technologies look really safe to me. I mean I'm sure they will be as safe as what we have now, if not more, when they are actually implemented and made available to the public. It just seems like a large dependency on the electronics end. You depend a lot less on electronics with today's most common forms of steering, rack-and-pinion or recirculating-ball. With that, your hands are directly connected to the wheel, connected to the steering shaft, to the pinion, to the rack (albeit power steering and some other factors in between). Can the electronic systems like these mimic the torque applied by the driver to the wheel, determining the correct amount of rotation between the inner and outer parts of the spool valve in a power steering system? It seems like the wheel can only turn at one speed.

Aside from safety, another problem developing a system like this for practical use would probably be the increase in wear on a vehicle. Those subtle but frequent movements to steer on the iPhone don't hurt anything, but it increases wear on the steering systems. Humans, for the most part, are good at braking smoothly, accelerating smoothly, and turning smoothly. When you don't do those things, the car wears much quicker.

It will be interesting to see how the "drive-by-wire" system, the video cameras, the laser 3D sensors, the GPS, and Wi-Fi systems can all be integrated safely and securely inside the vehicle, instead of precariously on top and on the sides of the car. I don't know if Team Berlin is concerned at all with that. But they do show all the technology that would have to be included if anyone were interested in making a vehicle that can do this stylishly.

I love the Mario-Kart evocation at the end. I would love to sit on top of my car and drive it!

Lewis Hamilton drove a remote control McLaren F1 car after they were shown a scale model controlled from an iPhone. See the video here with the real car being driven right at the end.