Remember the purpose why the first car was built? The biggest necessity that a car fulfils is to reach point B from point A without having to put in much human effort.
But with the years going by, bringing about major discoveries and inventions on the technical field, our expectation from cars have evolved to a great extent. Earlier, we primarily needed a car to reach our destination. Then came in various factors from the technical science and we started to expect reaching our destination in less time with more luxury. More comfort, more functionalities and features along with more entertainment and more of everything that was served on our plates have brought us to a time when a car could quite well be called our substitute for home, our second home.
If we think from the perspective of a geek, a hardcore automobile and science enthusiast, we will be able to create our own wish list of the features that we want our future cars to have. Here are five groundbreaking features that I am sure we all would love to see in the cars in future.
Reality head up display
Head up displays are not a very new concept, but they are not very old either. Having a display towards the top center of the windscreen does look awesome and extremely handy. But we would all love to see a display right on the windscreen.
This technology does sound cool but has some drawbacks as well. For example, the display starts to appear faded when the surrounding gets too bright. The detailing on the windscreen starts to get invisible under such circumstances.
But then, there are some positives as well. Unlike the conventional display screens, Reality Head Up helps driver to keep on the screen and not fetch for the display every time.
Thinner batteries
The batteries on the present generation of cars are very big, heavy and bulky. Besides adding to the weight, this has also brings a major concern for the automobile makers i.e. finding a suitable place to install the battery without having to compromise on the overall balance of the car.
However, we would love to see car batteries that are far smaller in size, or at least do not require a separate place to be installed. Imagine a battery that looks like a part car and does not occupy such a huge space. Preferably, a battery that is thin and bendable like top sheet covering of the car is what we geeks expect cars to have.
Better smartphone connectivity
We do have smartphone connectivity in cars these days. But these integrations are not as deep as we would expect.
Now let me tell you one thing. Smartphone connectivity does not necessarily mean controlling the music system from you smartphone. It is much deeper. It means being able to navigate your smartphone in a way without having to fetch your phone every time. Browsing apps, making calls or managing other features of your smartphone through voice command, steering mounted controls or at least through the entertainment system would get the driver to focus more on the drive, thereby making the roads safer.
In fact, Honda is already pioneering what is called the Apple’s Siri Eyes Free in its new generation cars. This feature will allow the drivers to use their iOS device for making calls, sending messages, etc. through the dashboard itself.
LTE (Long Term Evolution)
Yes, this exists in our world of smartphones. The basic internet based connectivity that a smartphone works on is very common these days. But speaking about cars, built-in GPS devices do not require any kind of internet connection. Meaning – there are no real time updates on the car navigation system.
But imagine, how good it would be if you could get live traffic updates and other related information right on your car’s infotainment system? Excellent, is the answer.
Though many cars still lack internet connectivity, there is a good news from Audi. The company will be implementing LTE in their future models. Once this is done, loading live maps, searching the GPS system with images and a better internet radio quality would all be possible. In fact, you can also turn your car into a hotspot, making internet access for the passengers easier.
Inter-vehicle communication
Though the term sounds that way, this, by no means sounds like a simple technology. It does not mean that you will be able to call the car ahead of you to move away or move faster. This means that there will be an active connection among cars that would help the traffic to function smoother.
This function will also be able to reduce accidents and get road safety right for everyone. If two cars are connected, they can signal about their advent from a bisecting crossing and prevent an accident if the other car falls on the blind spot of the driver.
Summing up
You have to admit that these features form a perfect wish list for all the enthusiasts and geeks who prefer aiming for and demanding for realistic automobile updates rather than wishing to achieve unrealistic goals. Being a fervent geek and expecting technologies that is too good to be launched within the next two decades does not really make sense. Instead, having a wish list that can be fulfilled within a span of few years is always the better option.
The list here is just the same and does not have anything that is too fancy and too unrealistic to be reality. That said, the five features that we read here may soon be a regular feature in the cars that are around five years away from now.
Source: Autoportal