As the year is coming to a close (I know, we’re wondering where the time’s gone, too!), we thought it fitting to discuss the best tech of the automotive industry so far. If you read our last blog post, you’ll know we’ve also covered the introduction of self-driving vehicles and how that may impact safety – can you see the theme here?
Tech features are hugely important in today’s vehicles; they affect how you interact with your vehicle and how it reacts to what’s happening around it. Here we look at some of the key automotive technologies of this year and how the driving experience has changed because of them.
- Driver assistance systems
This is an umbrella term for features like adaptive cruise control, collision warnings, reverse brake assist and cross-traffic alerts. All these tech benefits focus on safety and ensure you know of cars and obstructions around your vehicle. One of the first examples of this was anti-lock brakes, now standard on every new car. - Automatic emergency braking
An essential part of safety tech, automatic emergency braking activates your car’s brakes when it senses a collision is imminent. It could minimise the potential damage during an accident or even help you avoid one altogether. - Connected apps/digital keys
Almost every car company now has an app you can download for your car, with the smartest ones letting you remotely lock and unlock the doors, check the fuel and tyre pressure, and even remotely start the car. These apps will also display key maintenance features, and you can use them to find your nearest garage, petrol station, or charge station.
Similar to contactless card payments, to use the digital key on a phone, it would have to be held near the door to lock and unlock it – and only your phone would have this capability. - Teen driver tech
Something particularly cool is that you can now get vehicles with features aimed solely at parents with younger drivers in the house. The tech safeguards new drivers, allowing parents to put specific settings in place and put their minds at ease! For example, it can notify you if the car is driven over a specified speed, disable the audio if seatbelts aren’t in use, and set a volume limit on the sound system. There’s even a report card telling parents if safety systems like forward collision warnings have been triggered while their child was behind the wheel.
Of course, this is just a drop in the ocean of the technological advancements we see in cars today, but it certainly gives you an idea of how much the industry has progressed in recent years.
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