Nowadays even the most basic car isn’t short of technology but how much further can we really take it? I’m not suggesting we are close to building the flying car but take a look at these futuristic technologies that are currently being prototyped today.

Airbags

As we all know vehicles have a lot more safety features today, one being the airbag. Many have curtain airbags, side airbags, knee airbags and seatbelt airbags but currently Mercedes are testing an airbag that deploys from underneath the car to prevent accidents. Instead of being the passive safety measure it once was, the airbag could become an active safety system.

Cars that communicate with each other

Ok, so cars won’t be able to hold a conversation with each other but the US Government are currently researching a piece of technology called V2V. It uses a wireless connection to send information to and from other vehicles about their location and speed. If you were at a junction and you haven’t caught eye of the driver that just ran the red light, your car would get a signal from the approaching vehicle to let it know it was in your path. Your car would then warn you or potentially break itself to avoid a collision. Ford are currently testing the idea and want to concentrate more on this particular technology than the self drive system. “Instead of being the first to sell autonomous vehicles, Ford wants to “democratize” technology that assists drivers throughout its model line, offering it at prices even economy-car buyers can afford. That includes features that can automatically park a car, steer it back into its lane and brake to avoid collisions.” Said Ford Motors CEO Mark Fields. Most of these features are already available in the UK Ford’s. “Demand for high technology in the most commonly available car in the UK, the Ford Focus is rising at an astonishing rate” said JenningsFordDirect’s David Walker.

What ever next? Oh yes that’s right…

Augmented Reality Dashboard (AR)

Think of the hit movie Transformers, the robots featured in it are able to scan the object in front of them and gain information about it, well yes you’ve guessed it a new piece of technology is about to help the future of cars do just that. BMW have already started developing the dashboards which will be able to identify objects in front of the vehicle, to help drivers when they are getting too close. Toyota have also started to produce the AR function for passengers, meaning they will be able to zoom in on an object outside of the vehicle to identify it, just using a touch screen.

Self driving cars

So not only could future cars start communicating with each other, we won’t even have to drive them. Google produced a prototype which seen a self drive car cover 200,000 miles. After visiting certain roads more than once, it had remembered where it had been and where to look out for pedestrians. The technology also means it uses lasers and cameras to catch sight of distant traffic lights faster than a human could. The technology may not be showroom ready just yet, but people do believe it could be completed in the next decade.

With technology developing this fast, who knows what else we can expect in the future, I guess we will have to wait in anticipation for now.