Not a toy, like you had as a kid--but a proper, full-sized automobile, only one that incorporates a remote-control function. We’ve grown used to discussions about a potential future with autonomous cars. But a remote controlled one? Who needs that--besides a certain well-known secret agent?

 

Assuming legions of murderous spies aren’t on your tail, the uses for your remote-controlled car will be more mundane. The car revealed at the Auto Show is from Chinese automaker BYD. Their forthcoming F3 Plus car, BYD says, is the first mass-produced vehicle featuring remote control driving as a standard feature. Dodging bullets? Not so much. BYD says that the car’s remote feature is the “perfect solution when the parking space is not wide enough for the driver to exit the car once parked.” That, and it might come in handy in heavy rain, if you’d like to have the car pull right up in front of the doorway where you're taking shelter.

Such is the fate of all secret agent technology, eventually: to make your life ever so slightly more comfortable.

BMW actually has a video of how this technology could come in handy, potentially even transforming a one-car garage into a two-car one.