Nothing's ever been so simple that someone couldn't complicate it...
Ford Atlas Concept Photo Gallery - Autoblog
Note that in one of the pictures, the vehicle information display reads "activating aero features"
To me, the wheels look like an unnecessarily complex way to address wheel aero vs. brake cooling. I trust that the engineers at Ford are not idiots, not by a long shot - and it's neat to see them experimenting with new ideas, even when they
seem stupid. That's how progress occurs. I don't see active magic wheels in the future for real cars though.. I suspect a more elegant/simple approach will become apparent.