Simon Woodroffe on Wheelman and beyond on play.tm is an interview with the lead designer on Wheelman, the newly released action/driving game (thanks VideoGamer.com). They ask about future plans, learning an open world game is planned using the Wheelman tech, though details are almost non-existent:

Is your next project an open-world game, and are you lead designer?

Yes, and creative director for now... we're looking for a new designer... I'm not going to talk about it too much, but it will be open-world for sure, we need to build on the technology we've used in Wheelman.

Is Wheelman a stepping stone?

Yes, it is, our long term plan is to reach the point where we can be genuinely competitive with the big open-world games... the gorilla in the room! You can't do that in one iteration, you have to take steps. We'll build our skills gradually. Hopefully what we offer in Wheelman is something a bit different. We do some things better than anyone else in this game, and if you buy this, it'll help us make even better games in the future!