What might look like cutting edge technology today will be gone from our cars before you know it. It all starts with these ten recent innovations.
10.) Individual Driver Assists
Nowadays, you can choose driver aids such as blind spot assist, night vision or lane warnings from the options list. There will be a day when all those sensors, cameras and laser beams will be integrated into one giant system, a system that most likely gets rid of the human factor completely.
Suggested By: MrTheEngineer, Photo Credit: Máté Petrány/Jalopnik
9.) Basic Head-Up Displays
Head up displays are great and they're most likely to stay popular, but not in their current, rather uninformative form. Don't be surprised if a much larger part of the windshield becomes a screen.
Suggested By: JayhawkJake, Photo Credit: jurvetson
8.) Electric Car Plugs
Inductive charging: because wires are a pain in the ass. Don't hold your breath, though. Inductive charging is far less efficient than conductive charging, so wires will certainly stay for a little longer.
Suggested By: ndukyh, Photo Credit: jeffwilcox
7.) Voice Recognition
Today's voice recognition is painfully slow and not nearly accurate enough. Nobody wants to talk to a computer anyway. According to Spike Jonze we're about 12 years away from this actually working. As ejp hates automatic explains:
It's a great idea - no need to find secondary controls, no need to take eyes off of the road. However, every implementation that I've ever used is cringe-worthy. The process works like this:
- Press a button
- Wait for the thing to give the feedback "say a command"
- Wait for the beep
- Say a command
- The system does not understand and reads a long menu of available commands
- Wait for the menu of commands to finish
- Repeat your command
- The system misunderstands your repeated command and puts you into the wrong sub-menu
- Say "main menu" or "back"
- The system misunderstands, and reads the list of available commands in the sub-menu...or says something even worse (for your protection) "this command is not available while the vehicle is in motion"
- Gasp in frustration and give up, opting to press the button that would have done what you wanted instantaneously anyway.
Suggested By: ejp hates automatic transmissions
6.) Digital gauges
Digital instruments look cool and make sense with today's fast-revving engines. They work just fine both visually and technically. They are entirely the future.
However, if the 2060 version of you buys a car that has digital gauges from 2014 you'll laugh and remember the good old days, just like we do now when we see an Apple II or an Aston Martin Lagonda.
Suggested By: Grand Moff Talkin', Photo Credit: BBC
5.) LED Daytime Running Lights
BMW came up with it, Audi capitalized on the technology while Mercedes also jumped onboard and hit the party with a few crystals.
Future versions of this will look ever cleaner and meaner, while many contemporary cars will get the same looks we give to pop-up headlights — fun but dated.
Suggested By: Damasconian, Photo Credit: Skelekitty (Krissi Sandvik)
4.) Touch screens
Buttons still work better and safer than any touch screen, so current touch screen technology will probably be extremely difficult to use, like putting a Prius driver in a car with a choke.
I understand designer and engineering desires to simplify the secondary controls, and we want to pack more technology into our infotainment systems. It is a selling point, and integrating controls makes the interior seem less cluttered.
However, when basic secondary controls aren't in the same place each time, something as simple as changing the cabin temperature requires the driver to take their eyes off of the road, changing the mode of the controls, finding the appropriate HVAC control, and making the change. Even in some of the Fords (like the Edge), there is a dedicated control, but it is neither a button nor dial but a flush mounted control with no touch feedback. This means that it cannot simply be located by feel and pressed without looking down. The driver must take their eyes off of the road.
A stupid design, with only aesthetics in mind, ignoring functionality.
Suggested By: ejp hates automatic transmissions, Photo Credit: Shutterstock
3.) Hardwired USB And iPhone Chargers
Humanity will get rid of those damn wires and ports at some point.
We will find a way!
Suggested By: Ultrasuedecushion, Photo Credit: NatalieMaynor
2.) Synthetic Engine Sounds
Think of it as a bad joke. Themanwithsauce explains:
Synthetic engine sound generators for combustion engines. Not the ones that pipe in intake noise, the ones that play the noise over the radio. Work fine when new, will work like shit after three speakers blow out because 18 year old Johnny wants a 15 year old 5 series.
Suggested By: themanwithsauce, Photo Credit: Autoviva.com
1.) Navigation Systems
Your phone does the job better already, for free. The idea of a separate system for your car and for your phone/Google Glass/whatever will seem hilariously obsolete.
Suggested By: DasWauto, Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
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