Style and features including technology are critical points among 72% of younger millennials when buying a car. More that 70% of this cohort mention technology and infotainment features as indispensable when purchasing a vehicle. Indeed, technology plays an important role in the automotive sector shaping the way cars are designed, built, operated, serviced, and repaired. Researchers and manufacturers are busy developing and perfecting novel car technologies that could soon be deployed to make cars even more reliable and safer.
Autonomous or Driverless Vehicles
Research plays a critical role in the car buying process. You may look at videos, read comparison reviews of cars and trucks you are eyeing online, or go to the dealership to test drive a vehicle. Careful research online and offline will give you the best information on performance, safety, features, prices, and maintenance costs helping you decide the right model for your needs and budget. For example, semi-autonomous vehicles are already available fitted with automatic emergency braking, lane assist, auto steering, or self-parking features. However, the driver is still in charge.
For autonomous vehicles, the car drives itself using computerized systems. More than 24 car companies are developing self-driving cars including Uber, Baidu, GM’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo. According to Forbes, 2021 may be the year that driverless cars will go mainstream. Waymo has already launched a driverless ride-hailing service where any passenger in Phoenix can ride in their vehicle without a human safety driver in front. Zoox by Amazon also unveiled its robotaxi last December. The main drawback of self-driving vehicles is regulation, but if this will be sorted out, autonomous cars will soon be available in major cities and places.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Cars that use AR technology exploit in-car displays to show information generated by enabled dashboards. To illustrate, if a head-on collision is detected, the car alerts you that something bad is about to happen showing the best route to take to avoid a crash. Using global positioning system (GPS), objects are detected via windscreens and the valuable data is relayed through the windshield. It can even be projected on the road.
AR cars can tell how the road conditions are whether it’s slippery or muddy. It can even estimate how wide or narrow the road is knowledge that you can use to decide how to maneuver or drive. In addition, AR dashboard can also offer data on engine performance offering possible solutions to fix any problem that it may find.
The car industry is constantly evolving adopting the newest technologies to make vehicles safer, more comfortable, and efficient. Self-driving automobiles and AR dashboards are two exciting developments that will change the driving experience drastically.
