Cars of the future will be computers on wheels

[Hum]

HANOVER, Germany ? A handful of people have seen the car of the near-future, and it looks suspiciously like a lunar land rover. Or a plane. Or a driverless vehicle. Take your choice.

At auto shows and tech conferences around the globe, prototypes of whiz-bang cars offer a visual narrative into what to expect on the nation's streets a decade from now. Some already are in production; others will be shortly, carmakers say. But in technology laboratories and engineering facilities worldwide, the imaginings don't stop there.

Think 15 to 20 years out.

By 2030, city streets will teem with small, driverless cars whose wireless capabilities direct traffic flow smoothly, rendering traffic lights unnecessary, car designers and automotive visionaries say. The cars themselves will be made of collapsible, lightweight material, allowing them to be tucked into the tiniest parking crevices.

Cloud computing will enable riders to work or play games during their commutes while listening to their favorite music as chosen by the car, says Kevin Dallas, general manager of Microsoft Windows Embedded. The software giant is working with Ford, BMW and others to make vehicles more connected.

For years, we've heard predictions about the cars of the future and seen them depicted in pop culture from the writings of Jules Verne to TV's The Jetsons. But advances in wireless communications and battery technology have made what once was a far-off idea a near-reality, says Mark Boyadjis, senior analyst at market researcher IHS Automotive, an industry consulting firm.

Changes in transportation infrastructure and policy, coupled with technology advances, could make this all possible in the not-too-distant future, say auto executives, analysts and scientists.

Within 20 years, not as many people will own cars. In fact, they will share them, Boyadjis predicts.

"It will be a different kind of automotive experience," Boyadjis says. "But for it to take shape, we need a seismic change in people's attitudes toward cars ? and early adoption of technology (by) consumers, automakers and infrastructure."

There are indications that as an array of personal and information technology enters the mainstream in cars ? from parking-assist aids to navigation systems to voice control ? drivers are slowly warming to the idea of letting the car do more on its own. Indeed, many drivers say they would pay $3,000 for self-driving technology, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

At the CeBit computer-electronics show in Hanover in March, the blue,

was the head-turner as part of a futuristic exhibit. "It is half-robot, half-car," says Benjamin Girault, a researcher at DFKI, a research institute that has developed small robots and an underwater rover. In several years, it could be on city streets, outfitted with cameras and lasers, and be controlled remotely, if necessary. An extension added to the back of the car would double the number of passengers, to four.

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[Vice]

I think the car of the future will end up being a hybrid vehicle which takes many different fuels. Hydrogen, high efficient solar panels on the roof, plug in electric with onboard batteries. It will combine lots of different energy sources to keep it powered and be flexible for the driver. I wouldn't be surprised even if we move away from battery packs to store power and instead turn to water and some electrolysis system to create hydrogen in the car themselves.

I think we can all agree that for most vehicles they spend most of their time parked I think during this time cars shouldn't be doing nothing I think they should be collecting energy somehow. Either through the heat of the sun on the inside of the vehicle amplified by the windows or through solar panels woven in to the body work. I just think there is a lot of waste when a vehicle is just parked up doing nothing that hasn't been fully explored yet but definitely battery technology is holding the electric cards back.

Apart from efficiently I don't see cars changing that much. That is to say I doubt we will have a flying car very soon I don't think governments would feel happy about ordinary citizens flying around, just look at how the TSA treats you when you're not even the one flying the plane.

[Astra.Xtreme]

I hope I'm long dead before the day comes that vehicles look that terrible.

[zeta_immersion]

Unless there is some small antigravitational field that can be harnessed then no flying cas ... migth be wrong, or levitating cars somehitng with no wheels ... the hll with cars today, they are junk, they should redesign the entire idea ie. bumper cars .... fantstic idea .... like trolleys in europe

[Miuku.]

Wireless / non-controllable driving is a disaster waiting to happen. The amount of damage caused by an attack on such a system would be devastating.

[Hum]

Wouldn't want to be in the egg-shaped NAME, when a Hummer hits it. :s

[123456789A]

Forza Motorsport 2030 will be a pretty boring game if this is the future of automobiles!

[cooky560 Veteran]

I hope I'm long dead before the fun of driving is replaced by automatically driving cars :(

[The Laughing Man]

How about we work on smarter drivers first.

[Phouchg]

That thing isn't a car. It's a friggin' wheelchair.

[The_Decimator]

[Hum]

That thing isn't a car. It's a friggin' wheelchair ...

.... built for two. :wub:

[capr]

HELP! my car keeps spawning a blue screen and cashing into it... get it?

[Mordkanin]

Wireless / non-controllable driving is a disaster waiting to happen. The amount of damage caused by an attack on such a system would be devastating.

That's a naive and silly train of thought.

If each car is autonomously controlled, relying on its own sensors for primary data, and wireless for secondary, considered potentially 'dirty' data, it could be done very safely with very little impact of any external attack. You'd never let data coming in on a wireless link override local telemetry. Reaction time to external problems would likely be a couple orders of magnitude faster than a human driver.

[Eddo89]

I hope these computers don't crash a lot.....

[Growled Member]

I want my car of the future to look like the Jetsons.

[FloatingFatMan]

How about we work on smarter drivers first.

You'll NEVER do that. Safest option is to take the driver out of the equation completely.

But the only way to actually make it safe is to completely exclude any possibility of manual driving. If everyone's on auto-drive, and the cars all talk to one another, know what the others nearby are doing etc, there will be no accidents again unless you introduce the unpredictable, random element of a manual driver.

[Miuku.]

If each car is autonomously controlled, relying on its own sensors for primary data, and wireless for secondary, considered potentially 'dirty' data.

I'd say you're naive if you think there isn't a vector of attack that could be used to either cripple or damage the system in a way that would cause the loss of human life or property damage.

By your logic no computer could ever be infected because there are external and internal sensors that "clean" the data.

[TEX4S]

...... and yet another fun conversation turns into a "I know better than you & you're an idiot" debate.

[Hum]

I don't see how any computerized car is going to adjust to dogs, deer, kids, running out in front of the car.

Or avoid potholes, manhole covers, speed bumps, etc.

Low altitude flying is the only way .... but then you have 101 types of birds, wires, hills. :huh:

[kjordan2001]

I don't see how any computerized car is going to adjust to dogs, deer, kids, running out in front of the car.

Or avoid potholes, manhole covers, speed bumps, etc.

Low altitude flying is the only way .... but then you have 101 types of birds, wires, hills. :huh:

I'm sure a computer could react to those much faster than a person would.