Ian Fleming gave us a peek into the future through his imagination of the flying cars. Who knew that technology would make it a reality? Dubai has already had a glimpse of this with Ehang’s drone taxi that could carry the weight of one person and his baggage from one skyscraper to another. But other than flying cars, there are other surprises which technology could bring to the future cars. 

Let’s take a ride and look into 7 future car technologies.

1. Driverless Cars

While automated driving has been increased to a great extent, driverless cars are definitely the future. Pascal Brier, V.P. of the Altran group, shed light on this automation – “This development will be in stages: we start without feet and then we do without hands and eventually without eyes.”

We have already seen how we can set a particular speed and give our feet a rest. But, the future is 100% autonomy where a multitude of cameras, sensors, and lasers will replace human eyes to reproduce a 3D environment that the vehicle can analyze and act on. It is expected that cars will be able to sense traffic conditions and a recent survey has said that 93% of vehicle accidents happen because of human error so, driverless cars will definitely save lives.

2. The Smart Connection

We experience how technology has surpassed our expectations majorly through our smartphones. Now this has an effect on the cars as well. The future will include a complete integration of your car and smartphone. Maybe you will be able to answer calls and open applications through voice commands or buttons on your steering wheel. Don’t believe us? Honda has already integrated Apple’s Siri Eyes Free into their upcoming car models. So now, Siri will be your driving companion too.

The other thing that technology will take from phones and add to cars is the capability to run applications. Future cars will be able to find you the nearest restaurant and other local information.

3. Hydrogen Cars

Environmental reasons have made the automation industry find alternatives for combustion engines. Electric cars have been a part of the same idea but have not caught up well. Hugo Spowers, the first to have the hydrogen cars has invented The Rasa, which can easily compete as the most sustainable car in the world. Now why is that? The fuel cell is supplemented by extremely fast charging batteries and a regenerative braking system captures most of the energy wasted during braking, putting it back into the supercapacitors. His criticism of the battery-electric cars is simple- that they’re too heavy. So, we can be assured that the future should be light and environment-friendly if Spowers gets the power.

4. Augmented Reality on Windscreen

Usually, we use our phones for navigation and that gets distracting while driving. What if the windscreen gave directions? An application called Hudway has already initiated this and displays directions, trip information and useful driving widgets on the windscreen in a minimalistic design using your smartphone. Now you don’t have to look away from the road at all. But, right now there’s a limitation on days when the light is too bright or bad weather conditions to allow screen visibility. We’re sure the future will see optimum usage of this technology.

5. Biometric Access

More convenience is what technology always aims for. We already access our smartphones and doors through biometric access. The day is not far when we get rid of car keys and the responsibility of keeping them safe. Major auto-brands like Mercedes Benz, Ford, BMW and Volkswagen are already exploring this technology and trying to bring it to their products in innovative ways. This will not be just limited to fingerprints but extend to face/iris recognition and voice verification. This will surely make vehicle access more convenient and safe.

6. Health Monitoring

Safety of the driver is of utmost importance and the future cars will be taking care of that. Ford has taken lead and floored and installed a technology in some of their new cars where ECG monitors have been installed in the car seat to keep a check on the heart rate. This innovation needs a little more testing but it will open new doors related to automobile safety. The future cars definitely seem to be a safer space for the driver.

7. Reconfigurable Panels

This is the most awaited innovation of the future that has the car fans waiting eagerly. The car bodies are about to experience a huge transformation. The new lightweight body panels can retract the roof and side glass into the lower body panels allowing you to modify the look and space of the car. Various concepts using this technology are being explored and in some ways, this will blur the line between compact city cars, family saloon cars, and SUVs.  There have been talks about another technology where the battery will be hidden in the panels thus saving space and fuel. Expect a lot of play with the panels in future cars.

These were some spectacular revolutions that will upgrade the driving scenario in the next decade. There’s one thing we can be sure of – is the disappearance of cars running on combustion engines because each innovation is trying to crack that. There will be a change also in public transport and that’s when real change will begin. Car designs are expected to focus less on the open road driving and more on safety and convenience. So, look out for all the new car technologies being upgraded with each model while you take good care of your car that has always been by your side.