Behold The Microsoft Mustang

As a whole, the car is more of a rolling showroom for Microsoft's tech than a showcase of what might be seen in future production vehicles.

S

o, if Microsoft built a car, the first thing it would do is crash, right?

Now that we've got the obvious joke out of the way, we'll acknowledge that Microsoft actually has built a Windows car. Well, sort of. The company collaborated with West Coast Customs on "Project Detroit," a one-off concept car that serves mainly as a technology showcase.

The Mustang's interior showcases some of Microsoft's current technology.

The car consists of a 1967 Mustang body on top of a 2012 Ford Mustang chassis, and it features a built-in Wi-Fi network, a touch screen that replaces the instrument cluster, and a tablet embedded in the passenger's half of the dash. That tablet can be used to compose messages which will be displayed on a screen on the rear window. Of course, passengers can use the tablet to surf the net or play Xbox as well.

A Windows phone can be used to lock/unlock the car and start the engine remotely, as well as locate the vehicle, and thanks to Microsoft's Kinect, live audio and video can be streamed between the car and a Windows phone or the on-board screens.

As a whole, the car is more of a rolling showroom for Microsoft's tech than a showcase of what might be seen in future production vehicles, although digital instrument panels have been around in some form or another for years, and we wouldn't be shocked to see tablets integrated into the dash at some point.

It's also not surprising that Microsoft would be interested in automotive technology, since the company had a hand in Ford's Sync and MyFordTouch multimedia systems and Kia's UVO infotainment system, and Microsoft's Bing search engine is part of Toyota's Entune multimedia suite.

Whether or not any of this tech will go mainstream is an interesting question, but we just think the car looks cool in matte black, despite the lights in the wheels.

[Sources: Jalopnik, Microsoft]