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Reply to "Cup Holders, Part Deux....."

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I have no doubt that somewhere, deep in the bowels of the Mercedes-Benz future technologies department, legions of sober engineers are working on the cupholders of tomorrow.

The problem with modern cupholders is that too much is still up to the driver. The human component is left to decide which cupholder to deploy and when to do so, and that cannot be optimally efficient. It must certainly be safer to allocate these tasks to onboard computers.

We're already scanning the driver's face to detect diminished concentration, so it's a small step to look for signs of thirst, or even frustration. (Why not have the car decide when others are driving poorly and automatically honk the horn when appropriate?)

Automatic cupholder selection and deployment can easily be coordinated with voice activated navigation commands and user profiles. If the car knows your favored order is a Venti Salted Caramel Mocha Coffee Frappuccino and that you're left-handed, it can deploy the appropriate cupholder and adjust it to the proper size just as the navigation rolls us into the drive-thru at the nearest Starbucks.

This is really just a follow-up to the heated and cooled cupholders that are already on the option list.

And this opens new opportunities for the marketing department, too. These will no longer be mere 'cupholders', they're now the Mercedes Enhanced Hydration system (MEH). Which, unfortunately, is available only as part of the Conspicuous Consumption package, so you'll also be stepping up to the 24" alloy rims if you want in.

Remember, you read about it here first.

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