Cars will connect even more with the world around us

The days when a car will just be a vehicle to transport people from one destination to another, will soon end as it will become a rolling, seat belted mobile device. At the present, most vehicles need your smart phone plugged in so you can use your cellular network as well as onboard navigation systems, but this is about to change as cars are increasingly engineered to be digitally connected to the world they travel through. This goes far beyond your pre-installed music apps or GPS.

Let’s take Audi as it will be introducing a feature in some of its car models that lets users take benefit from the onboard LTE, giving the driver and passenger an open door to use fast Wi-Fi. This will help passengers to stream movies without lots of buffering and information from the cloud will download quickly. Whenever systems like these come across the main aim is to make them easier for the user as well as limit driver distraction. Some car systems can give you update on the news, hence the need to keep one’s eyes on the road is apparent. This is where many of these systems fail to work as they have limited capabilities, and don’t let drivers to surf the net when they should be driving. Some systems let your car read your Facebook updates to you.

In a bid to simplify in-car services, Apple will be launching CarPlay which will adapt its famous iOS interface to your car. BMW 7-Series cars have an optional system that allows you to use your fingernail to scrawl out quick, handwritten commands, without having to tap through a menu screen to get what you want. These are just some of the technological advances that are being made in terms of smartphone connectivity with your vehicle. All of these pose a question, where are we headed? Some might argue that this is taking us towards even more data in our vehicles which means privacy will be compromised and you will always be under watch. None the less some will argue that these advances are playing a vital role in today’s world for example in future car seats might also have sensors that can detect heart attacks or have black boxes as in airplanes. The consequence of all of this is an even greater connection with the world around us.

Further reading: Uber launches in remote areas of the world