The world is rife with talk of electric cars, hybrid cars, cars that run on bio-fuels and all kinds of fascinating technologies that promise to change the way we drive. There are many cars today that have cutting edge technology. For instance a mid-size luxury vehicle such as a used Jeep Grand Cherokee is known for its unibody chassis, active exhaust system and different types of engines across models too.

But when it comes to the future, car technologies are going to reach astounding vistas. Looking at what auto experts are saying, it does seem like car-tech is embracing:

• Better fuel efficiency,
• Driver-less tech,
• Safety features and so on.

Personal safety

This is going to be huge in the future. Interestingly, the concept of personal safety in the car of the future is going beyond air bags and safety belts. Think of:

• Biometric access
• Health monitoring
• Vehicle tracking and
• Driver override systems and you know where we are going with this.

Cars of the future are quite likely to have sensors in the steering wheels or seats or seat belts. These sensors will keep track of your vital signs and if they think that you are in danger, then the car will pull over to the side and even call for emergency help.

Vehicle access is also going to grow massively. Fob-less entry, fingerprint access, retina scanners – the world is the oyster indeed. A high-tech car will need high-tech security and this is an area where some interesting technology will definitely come into play.

Auto-drive

Cars that drive themselves! They are already in the news everywhere and it is simple a question of time before this technology becomes accepted and prevalent everywhere. There are some big names at work in this sphere and there are the massive tech companies that are working to make these cars.

Some of the things that we can see are:

• Hacker-proof cars.
• More sophistication in machine learning algorithms.
• Greater emphasis on road safety as well.

Certainly, vehicles like taxis, long-haul trucks and even public transport can see this technology changing the way people use cars and transportation. Lane discipline, automatic parking, measuring safe distances from vehicles and even cruise control systems are all part of this autonomous driving cars.

Tracking and control

Think of a scenario where a car thief is leading the police in a dangerous chase. There are innocent lives at stake as well. But what if the manufacturer of the stolen car could shut down the vehicle with remote operation? Or what if an insurance company can track the vehicle with respect to location, miles driven and so on? Well, this is not a sci-fi scenario. Many insurance companies are talking of the need to calculate insurance based on the number of miles a car has driven and a comprehensive tracking method will help in this regard.

Remote shut down of the car will also help law enforcement agencies in more ways than one. Of course, a few of these technologies have a social and/or moral angle to them but this is also something that future tech will need to address.