As there's nothing on the box worth watching, I was musing about cars and transport in general wondering what advances or changes we'll see in the next 5-10 years on our cars.
With the possibility of average speed cameras being introduced nationwide I think manufacturers will start to sell even basic models with either cruise control of some form of speed limiting device. I would imagine BMW or Mercedes having a camera device which will actually scan and 'read' road signs and automatically adjust the speed of the car accordingly with the ability to override the speed limiter with a dab of the accelerator similar to cruise control. Speedometers will get larger and there won't be the need for rev counters anymore.
Low profile tyres will become a thing of the past because cars won't need to do 155mph or handle like the 'ultimate driving machine'.
Perhaps car makers will stop marketing their products on how fast they go or how much BHP it's got when all they can legally do is 70mph and probably no more than 50 (being the new national speed limit by 2015).
On a positive note (:-)), tax discs will be sold with a chip that is read by a black box within the car. Only if you have valid insurance and paid the VED will the chip be activated and make the car work in conjunction with it also scanning your drivers licence/national i.d card. Cars will only work by fingerprint recognition of the person entitled to drive so can never be stolen or driven illegally.
If your insurance expires or you cancel the policy, the insurance co will send a radio signal to the car usng existing mobile phone technology. The next time you go to drive your uninsured car, it simply won't start.
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How about an automatic notification system to a recovery organisaton for when your battery driven car dies sooner than expected? The side of the roads is going to be littered with them :-(
JH
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There's a way round that. We make the roads into a giant Scalextric track with a groove running along the middle for an electric pick-up slung underneath the car.
Of course what happens when leaves, dirt and snow block it up is another matter...
;-)
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Hmm, i'll redouble my waxoyling and long term maintenance efforts and avoid the ghastly electronic soul'less machines that we are supposed to aspire to for as long as possible.
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yes but by 2015 you'll have been forced to scrap your old but perfectly working car because it doesn't have a speed limiting device fitted and they don't make a Halfords aftermarket one for less that £975 plus VAT at 22.5%!
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By then your car won't have a battery. You will be driving a battery. Electric cars en masse.
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yes but by 2015 you'll have been forced to scrap your old but perfectly working car
Spot on there, keep ears to the ground for classic car owning politicians quietly offloading their motors.
We'll be on bikes from then on....swmbo would rather walk than submit to further spying and monitoring.
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>>There's a way round that. We make the roads into a giant Scalextric track with a groove running along the middle for an electric pick-up slung underneath the car.
That can be simplified by running flanged metal wheels on metal strips (let's call them something like 'rails'). Steering would be unnecessary because of the flanged wheels. Several cars could be joined together in a 'train' avoiding overtaking. We could make it compulsory for every seat to be filled and then stuff a few more in for luck.
It would never work!
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Engines will become a lot more complex as fuel economy becomes increasingly more important. Energy recycling systems will become standard, for example brake energy will be recycled via a flywheel or battery etc.
Increased use of computer control technology.
Weight reduction at model replacement will aid fuel economy and save raw materials.
Improved integrity of car structure for incident crash protection.
More equipment will be fitted as standard to the majority of cars.
ESP on all cars as standard.
Auto braking systems that detect vehicles in front and behind.
Product choice will be reduced as a result of cost reduction measures.
More sharing of common components to save production costs.
Alternative non-oil transport technology will increasely be seen on the roads.
Petrol and diesel costs will significantly increase in real terms withing the next 5 years due to depleting world oil reserves.
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I have a JPEG image on my desktop that I want very much to post here by way of tinyurl, but I am incapable of doing it. Pity really because it is most apposite.
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Lud email one of the mods and send it them as an attachment I am sure they would post it for. All you need to though is sign up to something like photobucket or flickr and just upload it, then go onto the tinyurl website it is very easy but then so is changing front pads and I am not capable of doing that.
Back to the threat I agree with what has been said but I also thing simplicity might come back. I would like to see wiring looms simplified but I think that is already happening with canbus technology.
I also think speed will become less important but the next ten years will be about crash avoidance. The 90;'s were obsessed with making cars safe in a crash and the 00's have focused more on how to avoid the crash in the first place.
I am not sure if fuel cell or electric power will become more common but if we can come up with decent batteries electric power may be the future, not so much due to zero emissions but due to simplicity. The major issue with electric cars is the time it takes to recharge the batteries and not to mention that our power comes from coal plants in most places. This just shifts the burning of fossil fuels else where.
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It would never work!
No, it wouldn't. It took 130 years for the public to realise that railways could not connect every destination with every other.
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Hmm i'll redouble my waxoyling and long term maintenance efforts and avoid the ghastly electronic soul'less machines that we are supposed to aspire to for as long as possible.
I too am dreading getting a new car. Will I be forced to have one with rain sensors,speaking clock,steering headlights, reversing sensors, auto this or that. What is wrong with a basic 'transport machine' instead of a thing to pose with in the car park. Get one if you must but why can't we have a choice? Long live Waxoyl!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 08/05/2009 at 11:15
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Current technology gives many cars a revcounter indicating engine speed. Can anyone tell me what this is supposed to be used for?
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>>Current technology gives many cars a revcounter indicating engine speed. Can anyone tell me what this is supposed to be used for?<<
Allows the stone deaf (handicapped) to determine if the clutch is slipping.
The next enhancement will be an audio version, to allow the blind to see if the clutch is slipping.
p
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Current technology gives many cars a revcounter indicating engine speed. Can anyone tell me what this is supposed to be used for?
When engine noise can barely be heard inside the car, as is the trend in modern cars, it enables you to check that you aren't taking the engine to a higher speed than you would prefer. With the 70mph speed limit and high engine power outputs of modern cars it's no longer necessary to take the engine to a high speed. It was a bit different 50 years ago when there was no rural speed limit and you were lucky if you owned a car which had more than 50 bhp. (For younger members, engine power output used to be quoted in bhp, not PS!) In those days you had to rev the engine in every gear to get anywhere.
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Yes of course that's the theory, but how many people even look at the revcounter. Few if any, except dedicated petrol heads (or perhaps deiselheads).
Most seem to floor the pedal until aceleration tails off, then change to a higher gear, even if they cannot hear the screaming pistons.
As for over revving the engine, if something blows blame the makers. Perhaps 50 years ago there would have been more need for one when engines could have been damaged in this way but modern engines seem to cope with extreme abuse.
The point about speed limits is irrelevant. It's the speedometer your supposed to look at for this!
The only purpose for these things is to make the driver feel important, together with all the other unnessesary switches and dials which surround them. None of which contribute to the main purpose of a car, transport from one place to another, not a mobile amusement arcade!
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Cars will only work by fingerprint recognition of the person entitled to drive so can never be stolen or driven illegally.
So carjackers will have to snip your fingers off. No thank you very much!
Ditto retina scanners! ;-)
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Car clocks will be made redundant because everyone will have a "thing" inserted into their brain shortly after birth which will enable them to know the time just by thinking about it.
;-)
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Light bulbs will last longer and be replaceable without taking your car apart.
"White noise" generators wil be instaled in every car tuned to drown out SWMBO's voice when she's in the car....
"Fit to Drive" sensors will disable the car if (a) you've had an alcoholic drink within the previous week (b) if you've sampling "the weed" (c) if the DVLA transmitter transmits that you do not have a license or insurance to drive the vehicle.
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"White noise" generators wil be instaled in every car tuned to drown out SWMBO's voice when she's in the car....
And just as I was getting thoroughly depressed at the suggestions on this thread, this one popped up. It sounds ace! Where do I get one? ;-)
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"I have a JPEG image on my desktop that I want very much to post here by way of tinyurl, but I am incapable of doing it. Pity really because it is most apposite."
Email a copy of the JPG, Lud - and I`ll put it up on my own site for you.
If Mod`s could give you my email address please? Then you can send one over whenever you want ;-)
{Done}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 08/05/2009 at 11:15
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"Ditto retina scanners! ;-)"
You've seen 'Demolition Man' then?... There were some interesting safety ideas in this film IIRC.
John R
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Low profile tyres will become a thing of the past because cars won't need to do 155mph or handle like the 'ultimate driving machine'.
Cars already dont need to do 155mph or handle like the "ultimate driving machine". Big wheels and low profile tyres are here to stay.
The next 5-10years will see some big changes, with the price of oil set to rocket back to new highs when we come out of the global recession I think we will see a lot more small cars with 3 pot engines.
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upon entering your next generation car the following criteria will have to be met :-
1. retinal scan (check that the registered owner is the driver)
2. breath test (check your not over the limit)
3. Blood pressure and BMI check (to check you won't have a heart attack at the wheel)
4. finger print scanner on the steering wheel (again to check your the registered owner).
5. vision test (to make sure you haven't suddenly turned blind or need new glasses)
only then can the driver turn the key to start the car, only to find out that the battery is flat from all of the previous tests. he he
then once driving all cars will have in built sms and gps system to text the police where and when you were speeding.
Still, the good news would be that speed cameras are not needed anymore....
Of course, I am being over sarcastic but since all of our rights are gradually being eroded over the years maybe some of the above could actually happen.
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Your car won't start till you've inserted your credit card in a slot, which will then deduct a fixed sum per mile as environmental tax, fuel tax, VED, punishment tax, bail the chancellor out of the hole he has got us into tax.
When you have reached your credit limit your car will stop and an automated voice will tell you you have ten seconds to vacate the vehicle before it self destructs.
I thought twice before posting that in case someone up above reads it and thinks it's a good idea.
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Here is the pic supplied by Lud!
img11.imageshack.us/img11/5540/ludpic8509.jpg
image on my own site, link/image valid for one week - as usual - unless requested longer.
Cheers Lud, will respond to your email this evening ;-)
{image moved to another site where it'll be available for a lot longer than a week}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/05/2009 at 03:49
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email sent
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Fantasztic. A truck with a 'cow-catcher'!
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" I would imagine BMW or Mercedes having a camera device which will actually scan and 'read' road ...."
- The Vauxhall Insignia already has this.
www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/microsite/insignia08/index.h...l
click Innovation>Safety and Security>Front Camera System.
The best thing to do, is join the SAE as a student and the journals you will receive will show you 5-10 years ahead.
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Here is the pic supplied by Lud!
Pretty sure that's been posted before (might have even been by me?)
Still, I much prefer the Toyota Cowrolla
img127.imageshack.us/img127/2994/pic028233vt.jpg
(I know I definately posted that one before, because I found it via a forum search ;o) )
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(might have even been by me?)
It might DD, but it might have been me too a couple of years ago before I went gaga and had to be kindly helped by oilrag.
I like your Cowrolla but it's got more grunt than you need and must be heavy on fuel. My thing is more like a low-powered, high-geared, capacious people carrier, ideal for motorways.
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>>..image on my own site, link/image valid for one week - as usual - unless requested longer.
This one might survisve
www.unreelvideos.com/cow_truck.jpg
I hope the next load job is not like this :-)
www.joe-ks.com/archives_jul2004/CowLoad.jpg
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The straw that breaks the Scammel's back?
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>>..image on my own site, link/image valid for one week - as usual - unless requested longer.
This one might survisve"
Sorry to say, Henry, I`ve only limited space on my website so I have to rotate Pics in and out, to make space for new ones.
regards
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Possibly not in the very near future,but I can envisage cars being controlled by a GPS system. Road speed and position will be constantly monitored. Cars will drive themselves once the destination is entered on a sat-nav type screen. If a car should break down,then recovery service will be alerted.
Driving as we now know it will become a thing of the past. Tractors can already be programmed to work by themselves on large fields at the moment,so the technology already exsists.
So no need for slots in the road in this brave new world.
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I agree with some people (e.g. Piggy & MikeTorque) who seem very well-informed and have been bang on. I think we'll see two major areas of advance.
Firstly, active safety - as somebody else commented, the 90s/00s was about improving occupant protection, the next 2 decades will be all about collision avoidance.
Networking (between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure), broadcasts like DAB and GPS will provide much better ability to replan routes and there will be systems that effectively warn you what's around the corner. Radar, ultrasound and car-2-car comms will mean that the car is essentially aware of all the vehicles around you and their intentions. Finally, systems will be able to brake & steer to avoid collisions, and pre-emptively tension seatbelts or fire air-bags in advance of a crash, rather than being triggered by impacts. There's bits of it coming through - e.g. Honda Accord with LKAS, Mondeo with ACC and XC60 with pedestrian-avoid, but it'll start coming together.
If you can wade through it, then www.prevent-ip.org carries details of a massive EU (see, it's good for something!) project that took in a lot of OEMs and Tier 1s, which sets out a framework to ensure you don't get incompatibility between different cars, or cars which don't have all the kit. It's heavy going though, but one or two nice pictures that I looked at.
The other point is that all of this is "driver support", car companies don't want the legal liability that would come with control.
The other bit is power trains. But this may happen more slowly than many people think. For starters, given the UK's fondness for coal & gas fired power stations, the Chevy Volt will be higher CO2 than the current Focus Econetic. Although the running costs of the Volt will be lower as it's more efficient from plug/pump to wheel. Volt type cars won't be cost competitive before about 2015-2016, so I think most electric vehicles out there will be city cars until at least 2020. greencarcongress.com carries a lot of news about what's going on in this area - there's some exciting things happening in labs & test tracks on batteries and biofuels that do mean that what's under the bonnet will be transformed over the next 10-20 years.
Cheers.
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Sorry to say Henry I`ve only limited space on my website so I have to rotate Pics in and out to make space for new ones.
I've put it on another site ( www.imageshack.us ) where it'll be available for a lot longer than a week and replaced the link.
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He didn`t become bitter and twisted and go out and buy the Guardian at the perceived snub to effort, commitment and generosity of spirit - but merely reflected on lost gardening time......
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