Science, technology and pop culture have all promised a lot when it comes to the future of transportation. But on the surface, it doesn’t appear as if much has changed in the past 50 years of driving. Unless you count the addition of screens.
So this morning, we asked you what driving features you thought would be real by the time we got to 2022. Here are some of your top responses.
“I honestly thought more vehicles would replace side mirrors with some sort of camera system. I’m personally glad they haven’t yet, but I thought that would arise before the self driving craze.”
This is definitely something we’re seeing appear on more cars, especially EVs. But cameras in place of wing mirrors or rear-view mirrors are not quite as widespread as you might have predicted.
Suggested by: i86hotdogs
“I thought there’d be more inter-connectivity between cars and infrastructure by now. Such as traffic lights being notified of your approach and changing before you get there, assuming the intersection is empty (like it’s 2 in the morning with no other cars around and I still have to stop at the light to trigger it to change).
“Or cars reporting traffic or road issues to cars behind it or to the authorities (like I have mixed feelings about my car automatically notifying the police when another car flies by me weaving through traffic at 95mph but just figured that would have been implemented by now).”
Google might ask you if a road was busy or the train carriage was full after a journey, but there’s still a long way to go here. With all the sensors and scanners packed into our cars, and phones, surely this one actually is right ‘round the corner?
Suggested by: anotherevilmonkey
“Not so much something that’s missing altogether, but I thought we’d have more widespread adoption of basic accident-avoidance technology. Forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking (and post-collision braking for that matter) and lane keeping or blind spot warning. This would be an easy way to cut down on the endless small collisions at traffic lights and intersections that cause delays and paperwork and hassle.
“All it requires is one of two things to happen, neither of which probably ever will:
“1) Automakers to stump up the cash and build in features that buyers aren’t clamoring for, or
“2) New safety regulations to require all new vehicles to have these already-existing features within 5 years (just like the US did with rear-view cameras...)”
Anyone else feel like this should have been the starting point for self-driving cars? When it comes to self-driving tech, it feels like carmakers decided they should make a Thanksgiving dinner before they learned to scramble eggs.
Suggested by: redfocus5
“I once (stupidly) thought we would have maximized glass and minimized pillars for improved visibility. Instead, we have thick pillars for safety, which makes sense.”
What’s better: increasing visibility to reduce crashes or increasing safety in case there is a crash?
Suggested by: novelnerd
“I thought swivel seats would be standard in every car for ease of entry but I guess not.”
For some reason, the cutting-edge tech of *checks notes* the hinge is limited to swanky RVs and nothing else.
Suggested by: thedriveress-
“I thought we’d have some sort of augmented-reality smart windshield glass. Like a heads-up display, but better. Something that would show arrows and instructions for navigation, maybe highlight road signage.”
This, or some kind of functioning augmented reality headset, would mark the moment we really entered the future.
Suggested by: hangovergrenade
“three-wheeled enclosed cars – Elio (hah), Aptera, etc. I thought I would start to see them running around for real by now. I still want one. They’re a perfect vehicle for most people on most trips.”
The idea of an innovative yet small city car for whizzing around town seemed to peak with personal three-wheelers like these. It’s a shame they haven’t really come to fruition just yet.
Suggested by: AdmiralAkbar
“Hydrogen powered vehicles, designed/built on a skateboard type platform so that the bodies would be the only thing that really changed. Think a van, SUV, CUV, sedan, coupe and so on all using the same skateboard underneath with just a different size/style body on top.”
For a while, it seemed like hydrogen power could be the real alternative to gasoline. But, for a raft of reasons, automakers have opted to focus on battery electric vehicles instead.
Suggested by: slicks30r
“The Segway to completely overhaul the transportation sector. Remember when that was supposed to happen?”
The peak of personal transportation in 2001. Now, something of a joke.
Suggested by: skim173
“It’s lame but I thought we’d have standard safety features on every vehicle by now. Things like automatic cruise control, blind spot awareness, auto-retracting seatbelts, things like that. I know they’re options on a lot of things but I was hoping we would have eliminated a lot of the variables in crash situations even further than we have.”
Safety features like this shouldn’t be an optional extra. They should all come as standard by now.
Suggested by: suburbancowpoke