When you're sitting in the driver's seat at 60mph on a rain-lashed motorway, covering your eyes would normally be a dangerous, if not downright suicidal move. Putting on a virtual reality headset, obscuring the view of the road altogether, might seem even crazier. But that's exactly what I did recently. To start with, I was looking at a computer simulation of the motorway in front of me. Then the road disappeared altogether, the car took off, and I began flying through an alien landscape.

This week in IoT, autonomous and connected car technology dominates, with Renault demoing its latest concept vehicle. There was some major Irish success in the world of internet of things (IoT) hardware manufacturing, with Dublin-based DecaWave winning a major international award. The company was honoured at this year's Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) awards – the industry's'Oscars' – with the Start-up to Watch award. In its announcement of the winners, the GSA said that DecaWave was chosen as it was "a company that has demonstrated the potential to positively change its market or the industry through the innovative use of semiconductor technology or a new application for semiconductor technology". Meanwhile, in the consumer world, a report from Cisco has shown that the adoption of IoT devices is in jeopardy if consumers are not confident in the safety of products.

Do you see an image yet?" he asks me. Ahh, yes, now I see it," I reply nervously. A minute ago I was on a real road, but now I'm rolling down a fake forested highway in a simulation created by Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Renault's Level 4 autonomous system has taken the piloting chores (with a professional, joystick-equipped driver backing it up in the passenger seat). It's a bizarre experience, but I don't feel sick, because the Symbioz is transmitting real road motion to the headset.

Instead of just a way to get around, your car might become an extension of your home in the future if Renault's new concept vehicle, Symbioz, has anything to do with it. The self-driving car acts like another room in the house and has the ability to be arranged in a variety of ways, with armchairs, atmospheric lighting and WiFi. The futuristic car comes with a rotating lift platform that can take it up to a rooftop platform when it is not driving itself around. The concept might seem bizarre, but Renault thinks it will become a reality as early as 2030. Instead of just a way to get around, your car might become an extension of your home in the future if Renault's new concept car, Symbioz (pictured), has anything to do with it The Symbioz is 15 feet (4.7 metres) long, 6.5 feet (1.98 metres) wide and 4 feet (1.35 metres) high. The upper section resembles an architect-designed house while still blending in with the lines of the car and lets ample light into the cabin.