The automotive industry has always been an exciting industry to watch, with engineers always going above and beyond in their quest to create the ultimate machine, and every time they succeeded, history was written. Iconic car brands such as Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes or Tesla have all shaped the industry in one way or another, bringing it to the point we see it today. However, nowadays it’s not just the automotive industry that dictates the path – technology also has a great say in how cars look, feel and work. Here are five technologies that are worth keeping an eye on, as they are all bound to shape the cars of tomorrow.
Smartphones
are indispensable gadgets nowadays – so indispensable, in fact, that we tend to
use them even while driving, risking our own safety, as well as the safety of
our fellow drivers. Even though hands free devices have been around for quite a
while now, our current use of smartphones is no longer limited to making and
receiving calls, but extends to other uses as well, thus making handsfree
devices obsolete. Car manufacturers have understood that we cannot stay away
from our phones, so along with phone manufacturers, they came up with an
updated solution – a system that would allow us to use certain features of our
phones safely when driving. Solutions such as Apple Car Play and Android Auto
allow phones to sync up with the car’s infotainment system and grant access to
the most commonly used
features of the smartphone via the car’s steering wheel controls or voice
commands – options that allow the use of the smartphone in a safe manner while
driving.
Nowadays it’s all about connectivity and integration, and
we’re used to have our electronics seamlessly connect and communicate with each
other. What we’re not yet used, though, is having our car connect and
communicate with other cars, or other electronics, but that’s exactly what the
future holds for us. Technologies that allow cars to communicate to each other
or to other compatible devices such as smart traffic lights already exist in
various stages of development, so it’s only a matter of time until this becomes
a generally-adopted tech that will ultimately lead to the creation of a large
mesh of connected cars and devices, which will be especially useful for the
next tech: autonomous vehicles.
Self-driving cars are one of the end-goals when it comes to
personal transportation. It is the idea that has been in the minds of car
manufacturers since day one, but technology was not quite there to make this
possible. Now, this is almost a reality, with numerous manufacturers
experimenting with various self-driving features in their cars. While a fully
autonomous car capable of driving through all conditions is not yet available,
advancements are made in leaps and bounds, so this will certainly become a
reality within the next decade.
While electric engines are still a thing of the future, car
manufacturers still focus on combustion engines and how to make them better. Their
solution so far was to make them smaller yet more powerful, and Ford’s EcoBoost
engine is the perfect example for this – the company managed to squeeze out
roughly 125 horsepower from a 3-cylinder 1.0 liters engine. More interesting,
the trend also expands to sports cars, with the Porsche Boxster being a great
example, as it incorporates a scaled down version of the engines found on
Porsche’s renowned 911 line. While performance is not negatively impacted by
this scale, prices are, so for the price you would normally get a 911, you can
get a Boxster, slap on a Porsche
Boxster body kit to make it look even more aggressive than it already does,
and end up with a highly-attractive and surprisingly-powerful sports car,
without blowing a budget.
COMMENTS