The auto world is having a great upheaval in the history of cars. When shedding a light on the major trends for the car of the future, we find out that electric cars, autonomous, connected and a new architecture of cars will become the new trend.
The technological developments will upturn the automotive industry over the last decade. Thanks to the digital revolution the car will become reinvented by replacing the hardware and software design on these vehicles. Don’t be surprised that in a few years of time a car will look nothing like it does nowadays.
Electrical cars
Since the birth of electrical cars the transformation of new cars has begun. When the electrical car was introduced for the first time, inventors were already thinking about using it for public transport. Thanks to the better infrastructures, it enables these cars to become used anywhere in the world. Electric cars like BYD Atto 3 EV are slowly emerging as a must-have in all the market segments.
The technological advantages and its alleged historical weaknesses, such as autonomy or road performance, no longer apply. The electric trend has been stimulated by environmental obligations such as the desire to reduce particle and greenhouse gas emissions. In the future, a more powerful hybrid of electric engines will replace the traditional internal combustion engines. The rise of petrol and diesel prices make electric driving even more attractive. Also taxes that need to be paid for traditional internal combustion engines are becoming more expensive than when driving electrical. Experts that make calculations of the value of a car (Dutch: BPM berekenen auto) see a trend of electric cars becoming cheaper day by day.
Autonomous cars
The invention of the autonomous car will become one of the most spectacular revolutions for cars. Imagine cars that will be able to drive without a driver being the steering wheel. It will become adopted in stages; starting with a car that can be driven without feet, followed by a stage whereby the car will become driven without feet and hands, with in the end a car that can be driven without any human interaction. Imagine buying and importing a new car online from a foreign country such as Germany that will drive itself automatically towards your front door (Dutch: import auto Duitsland).
Cruise control is already integrated in cars nowadays. The driver of the car can set a certain driving speed and remove its feet from the pedals.
Driving assistance systems make it possible to remove the hands of the steering wheel while driving in specific situations such as a traffic jam or automatic parking the car.
The next and last phase is total autonomy. Cars developers are thinking and working hard in replacing human control by a fully self-thinking and driving car. By using cameras, sensors and lasers the car will be able to create a 3D environment which will allow the vehicle to make its way safely around. Google and the Google car is an example of it. They have begun looking at autonomy whereby they have entered the stage of testing these cars on public roads.
Cars and connections
In order to be autonomous and make driving a car autonomous safe, the car must be able to exchange a variety of information with the world around it such as traffic, the weather, the condition of the car, service stations, accidents, etc… By installing various sensors, the car will be able to communicate with other vehicles around it and with the infrastructure for example roads, buildings, etc.
