Very interesting article and a possible sign of things to come: You May Never Need To Wash Your Car Again Thanks To New Coating Technology Source: Dikić, T., W. Ming, R. A. T. M. van Benthem, A. C. C. Esteves, and G. de With. “Self-Replenishing Surfaces.” Advanced Materials 24, no. 27 (July 17, 2012): 3701–3704.
Not feeling threatened. This type of product will be WAAAAY to expensive to coat complete cars in from the factory.
Well it's limited protection for one, since the scratches are filled in by "stalks" their is still material removed and a limited number of stalks to take it's place. It's not permanent and may end up like Infiniti's scratch-filling paint, which isn't really that effective.
Isn't Nissan already implementing something like this? And I call BS, no surface will be so repelling that dirt won't stick.
The enthusiast will likely not opt for a coating like this, but there are many a daily driver where I can see a coating like this as beneficial. Also, a criterion for such a coating can be the elderly who no longer have the ability to wash their own vehicle or are on a fixed income. Do I believe it will put detailers out of business? No.