Future wheels

Take a look at the Future car technologies that are almost here

Cars that fly or become invisible are still in the realm of movies. But there are technologies currently being worked on, and with some degrees of success, which in the near future will make driving safer than ever before. According to howstuffworks.com, some of these new technologies will help keep us safe, some will give us information like never before and some will let us kick back and just enjoy the ride.

Cars that communicate with each other: Imagine approaching a crossroad on a green signal and another car comes from the blind side and runs the red light. Though you might not see the car, your vehicle gets a signal from the other car that it’s directly in your path and warns you of the potential collision, or even hits the brakes automatically to avoid an accident. A developing technology called Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication, or V2V, is being currently tested by automotive manufacturers like Ford as a way to help reduce accidents.

Self-driving cars In California and Nevada, Google engineers have already tested self-driving cars on more than 321,000 km on public roads. These cars not only record images of the road, but their computerised maps view road signs, find alternative routes and see traffic lights before they’re even visible to a person. Given Indian road conditions, however, it’s anybody’s guess when this will be available in India.

Augmented reality windscreens In the near future cars will be able to identify external objects in front of the driver and display information about them on the windshield. BMW has already implemented a windshield display in some of their vehicles which displays basic information. They’re also developing augmented reality dashboards that will be able to identify objects in front a vehicle and tell the driver how far they are away from the object.

So if you’re approaching a car too quickly, a red box may appear on the car you’re approaching and arrows will appear showing you how to maneuver into the next lane before you collide with the other car.

Exterior airbags Mercedes is experimenting with airbags that deploy from underneath the car that will help stop a vehicle before a crash. The airbags are part of the overall active safety system and deploy when sensors determine that at impact is inevitable. The bags have a friction coating that helps slow the car down and can double the stopping power of the vehicle. The bags also lift the vehicle up to eight centimeters, which counters the car's dipping motion during hard braking.

Energy-storing body panels In Europe, a group of nine auto manufacturers are currently researching and testing body panels that can store energy and charge faster than conventional batteries of today. These panels that will act as batteries, could reduce a car's weight by up to 15 per cent, says automotive maker Volvo.