I actually had a debate about this last year in one of marketing classes. We debated if whether or not something like this would be successful in USA. We pretty much came to the conclusion that something like this would only work in Japan since they're known for fun and crazy innovations. But hey, that won't stop me from going! May be creepy, but definitely a lot of fun!
Thanks for this comment. I kind of feel the same about electric cars. I don't know if that will work as well in the US as it will in Europe or Asia. Why? Because the US, like my native country of South Africa, has a car culture. People enjoy the mere experience of driving their car. Not just the fact that it gets them from point A to point B. A good example of that is my friend who owns a Lancia. These were some of the best rally cars about three decades ago. I have ridden in it and it feels great. He also tells me that it feels much more real and responsive. Modern cars, he feels, are too far removed from the road when you drive them.
I think the UK also has that car culture to some extent. It is also interesting to me how it is also precisely those countries, the US and the UK, who are often "old fashioned" or different in the way they do many things. Take the metric system for instance, like miles vs. kilometers, inches vs centimeters, and so forth. I think they use it almost everywhere in the whole world except in the US and the UK.