Karl Benz began manufacturing the first production automobiles way back in 1888. A hop, skip and a jump away, in France, Edouard and Andre Michelin incorporated the tire company that bears their name in the same year.

Having manufactured tires since the earliest days of the automobile, Michelin has an obvious stake in the future of what we drive. To that end, they have created Michelin Challenge Design, a competition for designers to share their ideas of what the cars of the future will look like.

To get the public involved, the concepts are shown at larger auto shows around the World. At Detroit, there were a variety of fanciful shapes on display from several manufacturers. The full size models on display came from Renault, Honda and Tata. The Honda and Renault models look surprisingly viable as real world drivers.

Hit the jump to see a gallery of the cars of the future along with a video about the competition.