What are car manufacturers working on?

Seeing these electric blue, aquamarine and other little colours against a glass background just gets me every time. Whatever car comes out with a dashboard like the one in the photo will automatically become my favourite model. Many of the improvements we mention below will probably never reach the market, but at least we know research is moving forward in these areas.

The automotive sector is one of the most constantly renewed in every field: low emissions, consumption, performance, safety, comfort and, of course, technology. Computing allows many of the tasks that have traditionally depended on the driver’s skill, such as parking, to be guided and supported so they are easier to carry out. Below we list a short selection of research projects being carried out by some of today’s leading brands.

• Glare control: BMW is developing a system that automatically darkens the rear-view mirrors and windscreen, reducing glare by 80%.
• Automatic braking system: Volvo is developing a system that warns the driver with a light signal so they can brake in time.
• Self-healing paint: BMW is working on a paint that can self-repair.
• A system to avoid traffic: This will be achieved with the Europe Como2React system, which will send your car’s data to a central hub and do everything possible to avoid traffic.
• Toyota‘s automatic parking system: A system that will allow the car to park by itself.
• Parking assistance system: BMW is developing a system that tells the driver how to park correctly.
• Road surface adaptability: Audi is developing a system that will control the vehicle depending on the terrain it is on. Called Road Vision, it will detect all risk situations.
• Hydrogen filling stations: They already operate in Germany, in Berlin and Munich, and in Denmark. There will be more and more across Europe.
• Electric car charging stations: In Spain, Denmark, Portugal and Israel they are practically already operating, and in the future there will be more in Los Angeles and many other cities.
• Development of a convoy of wirelessly connected cars: This will prevent accidents and save fuel. The European Union is developing it and calls it SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment). There would be only one driver, the one in the lead vehicle.
• The first dealership for electric vehicles: In Berlin the energy companies RWE AG and enviaM AG opened their first dealership devoted solely to selling these models.

Source | Espaciocoches