How cars will change next ten years.

 

While the design and feel of our cars have changed for 100 years, how we drive them hasn't. But fundamental change is coming. Within the next decade, not only will just how they're powered and wired have shifted dramatically, but we won't be the ones driving them anymore.

Some cars have basic automation features, but the automotive experiments currently being undertaken by the kind of Uber and Google make up a small proportion of the vehicles on our roads. By 2030, the conventional car will evolve from merely assisting the driver to taking complete control of most areas of driving, generally in most driving conditions.

This widespread automation, alongside the electrification and increased connectivity of both the automobile and society, is set to shake up the automobile industry in a big way, affecting from how cars look and feel to exactly how we spend our time inside them and how they get us from A to B.

A completely different driving experience

The first significant difference between today's cars and 2030 is their names. Just as Apple and Samsung have over a cellular phone market that Nokia and Blackberry once dominated, Tesla, Apple, Dyson, and Google could probably become the most recognized automotive brands of the future.

They'll likely look a whole lot different too. From the outside, the large air intakes and front grills that cool our combustion engines will no longer be needed, while wing mirrors are likely to be replaced with cameras and sensors. Windows might be more significant to allow liberated passengers to enjoy the view or near non-existent to offer privacy. The Mercedes-Benz Vision URBANETIC demonstrates these radical new looks with a modular vehicle that can switch bodies to move cargo or people.

Cars'interiors will become more flexible, some allowing customization of color, light, privacy, and layout at the touch of a button. Volvo's recent 360c concept car envisages a multi-functional space that can transform into a lounge, a company, and a good bedroom.

Sun visors can become a thing of days gone by, with smart glass allowing us to control the quantity of entering daylight at the touch of a button. The Mercedes F015 concept car's doors have extra screens that can be windows or entertainment systems.

Many cars are likely to be fitted with augmented-reality systems, which will superimpose computer-generated visualizations onto the windscreen and other suitable display areas to help ease the passenger's nerves from relinquishing the wheel by showing what the automobile is about to do.

Drivers will have the ability to communicate by making use of their cars through speech or gesture commands. In high-end models, we may even see some early versions of brain-computer interfaces, which may associate patterns of brain activity with powers to control the automobile or entertain occupants. Similar technology has already been used to control prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs.

Connective technology

The ever-growing internet of things can become central to how our integrated cars move us around and communicate with the outside world. Sensors made to recognize and share with upgraded road signs, markings, networks of cameras, pedestrians, and other vehicles allow cars to synchronize their movement, minimizing fuel consumption and improving traffic flow. Cars can help authorities maintain road infrastructure, such as tire sensors that notify them of deteriorating road conditions.

When humans decide to take the wheel, technology will warn drivers about impending collisions with other road users and attempt to avoid them. Improvements in thermal sensor technology will likely enable cars to see far beyond the illumination array of car headlights. If sufficiently standardized and legislated, these technologies should substantially reduce the number of road accidents – albeit probably after an initial spike.

While rural drivers will likely still own their cars, cities may move from car ownership to the usage of on-demand vehicles that take the Uber model to the next level. In Moscow, 9m of those journeys are already made daily, over 30 times higher than at the beginning of 2018.

Fuels for the future

Many countries and cities have announced upcoming bans on selling new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Older vehicles will still be on the road, so petrol stations will unlikely disappear by this date. However, car makers are already focusing more and more on vehicles that may support future fuels.

Precisely what that future can look like is unclear. Uncertainty over whether currently popular hybrid cars are likely to be included in vehicle bans may discourage businesses and consumers from investing excessively in this path. Fully electric vehicles only make up 2% of the global market right now, but as their price drops below that of petrol cars by the mid-2020s, their market share will undoubtedly balloon.

How much depends upon the degree to which their as yet limited range and charging time could be improved and how much governments currently purchase patchy electric charging networks. We expect fully electric vehicles too, at the very least, be a feasible selection for a wide variety of drivers by 2030 – but unforeseen groundbreaking technological developments could easily change the ongoing future of vehicle fuel. For example, scientists work hard to fix the production and storage difficulties that currently limit the potential of clean, fast-fuelling, and long-range hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The season of 2030 might not seem too far away, but ten years is a long time for technology to change. In 2008, the first iPhone had just been released, and climate change was a background issue for governments and media. Now, technology and environmental discourse are changing at an unprecedented rate. So don't be surprised if you look back at today's cars in a decade and wonder exactly how we got by.