The automotive industry is currently in a fascinating place. With electric vehicle makers like Tesla making giant leaps, many expect several innovative additions to the industry shortly. Much of the advances in the automotive industry come from collaboration with high-end tech companies. Today, vehicle owners can buy some of the most comfortable, safest, and environmentally-friendly cars ever made.
To add to this, the shift toward intelligent devices hasn’t spared the automotive industry. Most cars living on the assembly line can boast certain innovative features like navigation, security, and energy conservation. Suppose you’re a car enthusiast or just a regular driver. In that case, it’s easy to feel some excitement when you think of the ways technological advancements can upgrade the automotive industry in the coming years.
Fortunately, some of these automotive technological upgrades are here and already transforming how drivers interact with their cars and other road users.
Continue reading to learn about the top five technology upgrades in the automotive industry.
1. Autonomous Driving Technology
There’s a lot of buzz about autonomous driving technology, although most automotive industry companies are yet to successfully implement this technology. In 2020, the electric automaker Tesla Motors announced its full self-driving feature to a selected group of drivers. However, many users and companies are still skeptical about the safety and practical use of the technology.
Some raised safety concerns, although some cars are currently operating with semi-autonomous features through technology-assisted driving. Even vehicles like the land cruiser ute could use some of these driver-assisted technologies such as automatic-braking sensors, mapping technology, and adaptive cruise control.
2. Predictive Vehicle Technology
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence play a central role in the automotive industry’s advancements, mainly in predictive capabilities. Today, this feature is common in cars. Predictive vehicle technology helps customize your driving experience, fitting it to your unique taste and preferences.
An increasing number of manufacturers include algorithms that collect data and automate functions like infotainment preferences. Also, vehicles are now part of the IoT ecosystem and can connect to other devices like smartphones, smart speakers, and smartwatches. Today, your car can listen to voice commands through an improved user interface.
3. Cars-as-a-Service (CaaS)
Car-as-a-service is the car rental service of the future. It enables regular vehicle owners to join ride-sharing services. This innovative transport solution also calls on self-driving features to allow smartphone users to hail a car by using an app. The vehicle picks up customers of the service and conveys them to their destinations for a pre-calculated fee.
It also supports the delivery of goods and products. One of the biggest benefits of this service is that a driver’s license is not needed to access the driverless cars provided by CaaS.
4. Efficient Fuel Conservation
Again, Tesla is leading the way on the fuel-efficiency front by releasing its electric and hybrid vehicles. These cars can drive for hundreds of miles on a single charge and can supercharge too. The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer sold over 2 million EVs worldwide, and experts predict this figure to increase steadily as other automakers join the EV movement.
The strongest selling point of EVs is fuel efficiency and no greenhouse emissions caused by burning fossil fuels like diesel and petrol. Companies like General Motors and VW have recently added their version of EVs.
5. 3D-LiDAR Technology
At this point, even iPhones have LiDar technology. This technology applied in the automotive industry is capable of taking vehicle automation to the next level. 3D-LiDAR is under development to emit laser lights that map the areas surrounding the car via sensors mounted on the car.
It provides a superior choice when compared to cameras that may fail in situations with poor visibility. The previous version, called 2D-LiDAR, was only capable of determining the depth of a beam.
Current digital signal processing technologies can perform high precision detection of obstacles, making 3D-LiDAR technology independent of the weather and time and the best choice for self-driving cars.
Conclusion
Most of the significant advancement in society comes from teamwork and collaboration to solve a common problem and improve lives. The same applies to the technological advances in the automotive industry. Automakers worldwide continue to look for ways to improve vehicle performance, safety, and navigation, all in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner. Hence, the popularity of EVs and most of the five technological upgrades listed above.
Whether you find such advancements in the automotive industry to your liking or not, it’s easy to see how they affect different aspects of everyday life. Whatever may be the case, you can expect major leaps and transformative innovations as several automotive companies are currently working around the clock to implement more innovative ideas in the industry.
References
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/21/tesla-self-driving/
