Guests at a Japanese inn in Hakone were shocked when they removed their hotel-provided slippers only to watch them roll away and self-park in a neat row. Later, taking a seat at the traditional low tables known as chabudai, floor cushions wheel themselves into place automatically to the surprise and delight of onlookers. It’s all part of ‘ProPILOT Park Ryokan,’ a temporary experience engineered for the hotel by Nissan to promote its self-parking vehicle technology.

Obviously, there’s a big difference between a wooden slipper on a lobby floor and a full-scale vehicle, but Nissan says it uses essentially the same sensors and algorithms for both. Do we really need our slippers to scoot into a perfect line? Are we not capable of putting them there ourselves, and parking our own vehicles, too? Sure. But you have to admit, this is way more fun (and imagine how many bad parking jobs it could avoid.)

The self-parking feature is available in the latest version of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf vehicle, which uses both sensors and a rear camera to ease itself into a spot without driver input at the push of a button. The idea, according to the carmaker, is to “liberate drivers from one of the most tedious, and at times the most challenging, tasks of driving” so you can “park perfectly.” It’s all part of a three-stage ramp up to get us all accustomed to autonomous driving, with fully driverless vehicles expected in 2020.

Of course, the slippers bring to mind existing household technology like robot vacuums, too. Doesn’t it make you wonder whether we’re in for a future in which all of our possessions know where they belong, and automatically revert to them when not in use?

Millions of years from now, will aliens visiting an earth free of humans (or future humans, on the off chance we survive that long) find a puzzling ‘amber’ fossil of a 1979 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen? Of all the cars that could have been chosen to preserve as a time capsule, most people probably wouldn’t have chosen this one, yet here we are. The automaker has commissioned an incredible sculptural exhibition for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (NAIAS) made of 44.4 tons of synthetic resin.

“The installation symbolizes the timelessness of the off-road legend and makes a conscious reference to the natural phenomenon of insects preserved in amber,” said Mercedes-Benz in a press release. “Like their genetic material the DNA of the first G-Class has also been preserved and is handed down from generation to generation. These genes are also in the new G-Class and they are carrying through the characteristic properties of the longest-lived model series from Mercedes-Benz into modern times: an iconic design, indestructible superiority off the beaten track and exceptional ride comfort on the road.”

It may be a stunt to promote a product release, but it’s certainly a memorable one. The resin block measures 18 feet long, 8.3 feet wide and over ten feet tall, and it took 90 days to create it layer by layer, with the block growing by about 1.1 inch in height every day.

These photos may seem to depict a $160,000 luxury automobile zooming through sand, snow, sea foam and salt flats, but the objects on your screen are smaller than they appear. The lack of a person sitting in the driver’s seat is not an indication that the car is self-driving: it’s because the car itself stands only a few inches tall. This version of it, anyway. Photographer Felix Hernandez bought a $40 scale model of the Audi R8 sports car on the internet and created the sets in his studio, with astonishingly realistic results.

The automaker commissioned Hernandez to create the series as a promotion for the high-end car. As behind-the-scenes photo of his studio setup reveal, most of the work is done with miniatures and special effects rendered mostly in ordinary edible household products. Careful lighting, staging and camera angles make the models appear full-sized, so minimal Photoshopping is needed for the final effect.

“I love photo manipulation and digital art, but what’s really cool is doing as much as you can in-camera,” says Hernandez in a piece he wrote for PetaPixel. “For snow scenes, I use wheat flour. For desert scenes, I use corn flour. For atmosphere, I add smoke. For rain, I spray water. For droplets, I add corn syrup. In some photos, I add images into my background. I also use Photoshop for adding effects that are difficult or impossible to do in-camera – things like adding a sense of motion, color grading, etc.”

Previous photosets have included a series in which the artist took photos of a young boy and a miniature boat and blended them together in Photoshop, as well as Stormtrooper figurines hand-painted to make them appear more rugged and worn. See them all on Behance.

Guerilla marketing catches one by surprise, and instantly generates a ripple effect through the most coveted advertising holy grail: word of mouth. When cars, such a large part of our typical lives, are thrown into unique and wild advertising campaigns it’s difficult not to tell one’s friends.

(Images via core77, artculture, graphics, kosmograd)

Wireframes models are indispensable to car designers, enabling them to manipulate the shape of vehicles before they’re created. How cutting edge would a new car have to be to escape the confines of the computer before it’s even able to be produced? It’s possible a random side street holds the answer.

(Images via omgbestru4realz, paid4space, hastalacreative, mactalk, designboom, jetsetta)

Smartcars are not known for fulfilling the typical American car values: Power, Looks, and Size, but it’s hard not to be won over when they own their small size as their biggest asset. Creative advertising equate their economical qualities as similar to that of a bicycle, and their small size is accentuated by being showcased in oversized vending machines.

(Images via theinspirationroom, toxel)

Just try slipping this into the shopping cart without the wife seeing… It looks like someone managed to fit this full sized Alfa Romero into a typical shopping cart, though it definitely didn’t escape notice.

(Images via theinspirationroom, funniest-commercials)

When would someone least expect a car advertisement? When they’re moseying down the beach looking for shells to add to their collection. To add to the unexpectedness of such an encounter, these sand sculptures are sure to trigger the ecologically minded subconscious into relating these cars to nature.

(Images via businesspundit, guerillasushi, guerillapromos, guerrillasushi)

One of the few things worse for a car than getting a deep scratch, is getting an overzealous paint job. Throwing paint liberally onto a car is a great way to accentuate an advertisement that’s straining to exceed its boundaries, and an even better way to get tags wagging.

(Images via transportspecs, tomgooday, adsoftheworld)

The best guerilla ad campaigns are temporary, but thanks to the elephantine memory of the internet, the best campaigns live on. One can’t get much more temporary than cars carved to the last detail out of ice, casually parallel parked on a typical city street.

(Images via coloribus, gdpsu, francescomugnai, graphicdesignatl)

A billboard is most effective when it’s parked in front of one’s door. There’s a lot more room for creativity when an ad isn’t stuck in a rectangular shape hanging high above the road. One example of great (though inefficient) marketing, are the empty wheel well graphics that say “got insurance?” on the other side.

(Images via toxel, whatsalltheracquet, weedguru, paper-plane)

What’s more fun than crushing a car? Nothing. That’s why it’s one of the most effective and eye catching ways to advertise a product. These products may not be larger than life, but at least they’re larger than a car.

(Images via worldphotocollections, worldphotocollections, hotfunnynews, cartype)

Sometimes it’s hard to take the billboard out of an ad campaign, so why not spice it up with a life sized vehicle? Adding a little bit of flair isn’t conventional, especially when an ad campaign goes a little overboard.

(Images via dailyshite, adsoftheworld)

Guerilla campaigns don’t only involve cars when new cars are involved. A great message can be passed along and a little creativity doesn’t hurt.

(Images via norcalminis, restartithere)

Mobile guerilla advertising bring the show on the road, catching eyes and proving a point with every mile driven and every passenger’s attention caught. It’s little doubt guerilla campaigns are the best way to get people interested, though it’s doubtlessly too expensive to do on as large a scale as companies would like.