"Right of the bat the way I would approach this would be to have something folding down from the backrest of the passenger seat, in the same way most manufacturers include a folding armrest\cupholders in the middle of the back seats. That way you add this functionality without creating another object inside the car that you wouldn't know where to store when not in use. Comfort would be compromised, but you cant have everything."

""Skeuomorphism has always served the same purpose: to make the transition to new technologies feel more familiar."The exact same concept used in religion, when the conquerors would adopt the same holy days of the conquered nation only with different names and cellebrations (and vice-versa), to make the religious conversion smoother."

"Extended seat sofas are really common in Europe. In spain in particular, this type of sofa is THE standard sofa everyone buys.https://www.ikea.com/es/en/p/eskilstuna-3-seat-sofa-with-chaise-longue-hillared-anthracite-s59520193/Motorized versions are also fairly widespread, mostly in countries like Italy or Germany. From a user point-of-view, having an electric motor is just added trouble. You need to have the sofa connected to a power source; motors are usually slow, taking several seconds until fully opened\closed; are more expensive, and obviously more prone to fail.This chinese version is a little different though, because the extension folds downwards. This allows the back of the sofa to be less deep, which can be nice in terms of proportions."