Happy travels

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HAPPY TRAVELS

Infotainment

Today’s cars frequently have two displays, while the electric Audi e-tron offers up to five. The displays connect the driver to the car and give real-time feedback on how the car is running. The latest models offer a new dimension with a head-up display that supports extended reality, highlighting vehicles passing by and showing lanes in the driver’s field of vision. Linking the Android Auto or Apple Carplay apps with a smartphone adds a virtual assistant that can play a favorite song, send a text message or plan a route on request. It is not yet possible to control the car this way, but BMW for instance has its own assistant that can control certain functions like opening a window or navigating by voice command. All without taking your hands off the steering wheel or looking at the display. Electric cars and some other new cars that allow remote control even without ignition will permit communication in the future via smartwatches, Apple Homepod, Google Home and Alexa. You’ll just have to say, “Alexa, turn on the air conditioning, we’re leaving in 25 minutes…”

Telematics

Modern cars regularly save data on driver responses and driving to the cloud. Tesla, for instance, shadows drivers with its own advanced autopilot and assesses the differences in reaction between the algorithm and the driver. This machine learning helps it become a better autopilot, and it also collects important data for expanding the ecosystem further, just like third party apps like Waze and Google. The car’s software is more integrated with its systems, however, so it will probably replace these apps over time.

Infrastructure

Cars can get information from the surrounding area and road infrastructure as well, such as road signs, traffic lights and the terrain, and adapt the driving or functions accordingly. The Škoda Envaq features adaptive cruise control that can adjust speed based on signage so you don’t have to keep track of the speed limit at all times. Audi and BMW set energy recuperation based on the situation, so they charge the battery when you hit the brakes, coast when the road is clear, or slow down when they see a red light and come to a stop at the crosswalk. In some countries electronic toll booths can back traffic up on the highway leading to hours of delays, while a toll booth that can communicate with cars and collect the toll automatically as they drive through improves traffic flow immensely.

Conclusion

The time is coming when cars will help us drive, meaning we will be able to handle longer trips and enjoy them more. As a result cars are becoming part of the entertainment for passengers (and to some extent drivers) as their systems take on more autonomy. We still have a long road ahead of us, but even today’s cars offer quite high-tech systems that can make the journey more enjoyable.

TREND

Just along for the ride? Modern cars can do quite a lot. The Tesla S boasts computing power of 10 teraflops, the same as the latest PlayStation 5 or Xbox. Today’s car is a pleasant and comfortable mobile computing center, not a mere means of transport. Especially when it includes driving support technology.