Magic 8-Ball, what will cars be like in the future?
Automotive consumer site Cars.com has peered into its crystal ball and been analyzing exhaust smoke patters in order to claim what the latest and greatest technologies will be down the road (or down the air if we ever get the flying cars we've been promised). Its predictions include:- Flexible Fuel Systems (...one car that could run on gas, diesel, hydrogen, E85 and electric power.)
- Active Tires (...change to handle different road conditions with the push of a button.)
- True Autopilot
- Lane Changer Warning
- Camless Engines
- Self-Repairing, Self-Cleaning Paint
- Navigation Systems With Real-Time Traffic Information
- Self-Parking Cars
- Electric Window Tinting (...clear to tinted to even opaque with the push of a button.)
- Keyless Entry and Ignition
- Adaptive Brake Lights
- Computer Center (...in-dash computer that can manage navigation, phones, email, CDs, a PDA and every other new techno-gadget...)
- Collision Mitigation Systems
- Automotive Black Box
- Economy Mode (...car turns off non-essential systems, turns down the A/C and even engages cruise control to conserve fuel.)
[Source: PR Newswire via finanzen]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Beaker 12:44PM (8/04/2006)
Flexible Fuel Systems?
Lane Changer Warning?
Navigation Systems With Real-Time Traffic Information?
Keyless Entry and Ignition?
Automotive Black Box?
Ooooooo, that all sounds like the future is now!
Couldn't anyone have been a little more creative?
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Pedal to the metal 12:47PM (8/04/2006)
Most evil and unwanted by the car owners will be that Black Box crap. Insurance and Cops will LOVE it.
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Edsel 1:00PM (8/04/2006)
My prediction; within fifty years urban & suburban mass transportation replaces automobiles. Electric street trolleys enjoy a renewal.
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Dr. Sphincter 2:04PM (8/04/2006)
Translations/expansions:
o Flexible Fuel Systems: Equally poor performance.
o Active Tires: Central Inflation System (already here)
o True Autopilot: "Within a decade" since 1936...
o Camless Engines: HELLO! WANKEL!! 1954!!!
o Adaptive Brake Lights: Waves hand or gives finger...
o Computer Center: BSOD? Ctrl-Alt-Del...
o Collision Mitigation Systems: Even bigger ugly bumpers
o Automotive Black Box: "Here's your annual bill for speeding and parking tickets and road use tax, Dr. Sphincter."
o Economy Mode: Black Box kills ignition when it detects you are having "fun".
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Driver - Not Passenger 2:08PM (8/04/2006)
True Autopilot?
Lane Change Warning?
Self Parking Cars?
Are we passengers of the future or drivers? Personally, I enjoy the experience of driving. So many of our automotive 'advancements' help us become distracted. Why help the dope drifting out of his lane and into mine? He is already checking his email while on the cell phone and changing DVD's.
Better fuel, better engines, keyless - these are all fine. The rest is only good if you are luggage.
How about this... A road for people who want to 'drive' and a parallel road for the rest. Let them crash into each other and let me drive.
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Jason 2:27PM (8/04/2006)
True auto-pilot will never be a reality. Mercedes-Benz has already tested true auto-pilot and have said that they will never market it because of the liability concerns. However, adaptive cruise control, drive-by-wire, and brake-by-wire are all real (and sometimes problematic) products that have come from their research.
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s 3:10PM (8/04/2006)
Honda has a few these technologies already in Japan. Some of those few in the states.
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Corey W. 3:25PM (8/04/2006)
LOL!! I will never drive a car with a Black Box.
And yes, I've already researched how to disable the one in my 99 Vette.
Honestly, I think the love of cars and driving will be a niche market. Mostly everything will look like a vanilla copy of Toyota, Honda or Hyundai, speaking more so of styling then technology.
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Kelsey M 4:42PM (8/04/2006)
Btw, the link to the original post is: http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=top&story=futureInns&subject=innovations
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Steve B. 5:23PM (8/04/2006)
"2. Most evil and unwanted by the car owners will be that Black Box crap. Insurance and Cops will LOVE it."
I would love to have black boxes mandated... there will be no ambiguity when a cop arrives. I will have a perfect record of exactly where I was, what color the light was, my speed, etc., to force the asshat who damages my vehicle to pay.
Of course, if you are said asshat who would refuse to accept responsibility for a collision you caused in hopes that the ambiguity of the scene may get you off, I damn sure want a box in your car... One with a tamper-proof seal!
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jc 5:26PM (8/04/2006)
Cars of the future will be sold based on their usability or utility,as people will migrate from big SUV's because of fuel cost's but still desire versatility
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jon 5:32PM (8/04/2006)
I didn,t see curb-feelers on the list!
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Evan 7:25PM (8/04/2006)
"Electric Window Tinting (...clear to tinted to even opaque with the push of a button.)"
I'm sure that state laws would restrict that a bit, but one that would be nice would be to be able to at least tint all of the windows to an opaque level when you leave your car. Maybe that would cut down on break-ins / "smash & grabs" a bit...
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Brian 8:30PM (8/04/2006)
I think the most interesting of this list is the 'true autopilot.' I don't think the author has really thought about it a whole lot, because if having magnets in the streets is part of the strategy, then to get the whole system up would take at least 100 years to get through the political process of putting that in the road construction.
He's a little on the mark with GPS, but I'd imagine the degree for error for GPS is a little too large to handle this alone. I can't imagine that GPS would have enough latency to avoid an accident. No, in order for something like this to work cars have to know where each other car is to navigate traffic, especially in situations where another driver is not on autopilot, not to mention tunnels. A Wifi-based communication standard would complement a GPS standard, government GIS mapping, and perhaps a sonar system in each car (though I think they could do with out that). To protect privacy, they'd have to implement a distributed computing scheme where there is no central control, but each node (car) is responsible for making decisions about how to get to it's destination while also anticipating and avoiding an accident (think of peer to peer software). A speeding car would be communicated from car to car, as would the tell tale sway of a drunk or distracted driver.
If they put a vestigal system now in every car it'd probably take 20 years for it to go through. initially, they could market it as a 'smart traffic' feature, where your car can let you know where the traffic bottlenecks are. Still that's much better than putting magnets in the roads.
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Galley 8:47AM (8/05/2006)
Electric Window Tinting, because no one should have to get into a 150-degree car interior.
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crazy88since88 11:20AM (8/05/2006)
Navigation Systems w/ Real Time Traffic and WEATHER ???????????
Navigation Systems w/ Real Time Traffic and WEATHER ???????????
Navigation Systems w/ Real Time Traffic and WEATHER ???????????
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Tim C 7:49AM (8/06/2006)
#10 - "I would love to have black boxes mandated... there will be no ambiguity when a cop arrives. I will have a perfect record of exactly where I was, what color the light was, my speed, etc., to force the asshat who damages my vehicle to pay.
Of course, if you are said asshat who would refuse to accept responsibility for a collision you caused in hopes that the ambiguity of the scene may get you off, I damn sure want a box in your car... One with a tamper-proof seal!"
Yeah, because you're a perfect driver Steve? Never speed? Never chance the lights on amber? Never made a risky overtake? Of course you have, we all have if we're honest. Why don't you just ask to have a chip put in your head so you can never lie again. That'd make for a great society wouldn't it? No.
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