Wondering and wishing about what the future of cars might and should be goes all the way back to the very first car, which is not the Benz Patent Motor Car (thank you, Speed Racer/Jason Torchinsky) but rather the Cugnot Steam Drag. That’s it below, the zenith of automotive design in 1769 (or the nadir; as the first car-thing, it was by default the best and worst of all time, of the time). One can just imagine Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot astride his machine on its first hot, noisy, slow, possibly explode-y voyage, wondering what the futures of 1896 and 1996 would bring to his feat of innovation. “Perchance it shall have two boilers! And drive itself!” He might have thought that, you never know.
What I do know is we automobile people are now more obsessed with the future of cars than ever, as the end of gasoline and diesel as the predominant sources of automotive power is nigh, and advances in artificial intelligence – the worst kind of itelligence, I say – communication networks, and automotive technology intersect to make meatbags in charge command decisions potentially just as obsolete as igniting dinosaur remains to get from A to B.
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So what will tomorrow bring for the automobile? What do you want it to bring? Speaking solely for myself, I hope the near future of cars will include ever more electrification, but not necessarily more pure electric vehicles. For certain, I want everyone for whom a BEV makes sense to get one. But I would also like there to be much greater understanding and acceptance that PHEVs and range-extended electric cars are tremendously beneficial to the environment versus traditional ICE cars, and are an excellent option for many drivers who cannot yet accommodate a BEV life.
I would also be thrilled if the future saw consumers waking up to the notion that they may not need 400 or even 300 miles of range, and maybe 200 miles is fine for nearly all of their trips. Or 100 miles! Less battery capacity means less weight to accelerate and decelerate (and less wear on tires, suspension, and brakes), smaller pack dimensions that free up space for other things, and a reduced sticker price. Further, lower-capacity batteries will allow the Earth’s supply of battery-making elements to go into many more cars than it would in a world where every car must carry a 400-mile battery.
What about you? What would you like to see in the future of cars? The Autopian is asking!
Top graphic image: GM
I think the future is going to end up seeing a massive divide with folks trying to hold onto older cars with simpler tech, keeping them running because the lack of repairability in newer cars vs folks that can afford new. So you’re going to see a gap between cars 7 years old…then jumps to 15-20.
Buttons and toggle switches. Everywhere! Like I mean looking at the space shuttle cockpit number of blinking buttons and toggle switches with those wire/bar protector things on the sides of them so they can’t be flipped accidentally. Maybe use E-Ink on the buttons so they can do even more things. I’m not a complete luddite, so I’ll allow one 6-inch green and black screen with DOS style graphics for maps and stuff. That’s my dream car of the future.
I would like to see fully autonomous vehicles made for people who either can’t drive themselves or have a difficult time doing it.
I would like to see more sustainabilty with vehicles, with more focus on making things easy to replace as a vehicle refresh vs getting a whole new vehicle.
Porsche to increase sports car production, dial back the ridiculous luxury options, and have “manual transmission” available and pre-checked in the configurator for every non-SUV.
User-repairable and serviceable and applied data protection laws. That’s it, that’s the whole damned list, and I won’t get either of them.
Low beltlines, big windows, thin A, B, C, and D pillars. Bring them back. I’ll take the risk of the rollover protection in exchange for driving joy and every day practicallity.
A late 70s Range Rover passed by the other day, and the greenhouse was stunning.
If my wildest dreams were to come true, most American 2 car households would turn into 1 car households with nice e – bike or an electric motorcycle. But not a traditional electric motorcycle. An Akira style feet forward electric motorcycle so as to be more aerodynamic, more comfortable and afford high range. This is totally feasible today, given that the average car carries only 1.2 people, and according to most simulations, completely eliminate all traffic.
On top of this city centers would get denser and expand into the suburbs where necessary. Most suburbs would become at least as dense as Oakland California, allowing many people to live car free if they desire.
Except for a small part of downtown, Oakland is as dense as cotton candy.
But still twice as dense as Richardson, TX. Richardson is to Dallas as Oakland is to SF. Richardson also looks way closer to the majority of US landmass than Oakland does. Richardson (and most other areas like it) looking like Oakland, only in terms of urban planning mind you, would represent and huge positive shift towards sustainable development while still being attainable.
AFFORDABLE!!!!!! Nuff said
I think we will end up with something like that Stallone movie where he’s a cop and gets freeze dried and whatever where he finds that everything is electric except a fantastic Olds 4-4-2. I do hope that gasoline and diesel will still be a possibility and that the cars will stop evolving into self-driving crap that can do everything though. What we need is simpler solutions and probably something around 300 miles of range for a reasonable price. I would also like to see hydrogen being more prominent in bigger applications like ships and planes as I really think that would be a good solution for those applications.
you’re making me lust after a robocop 6000 Sux now. I will forgive you for that in advance
Simplicity and ruggedness. Cars seem to be getting exponentially more complicated as the OEMs pack in more and more technology that most people are at best indifferent to, and the cost of everything from purchase prices to parts & repairs to insurance rates are skyrocketing.
At the same time, we’re running face first into a climate catastrophe. A significant portion of a car’s environmental impact comes from its initial manufacturing. The best thing we can do is to keep our cars running as long as possible to amortize those impacts. We need simple cars that are low impact to build and cheap and easy to maintain in good working order.
I love cars. I love driving. But I’d sure like to see cars become less fucking necessary.
I want lightweight to become priority. I want small cars to come back and I want better public transport
I want George Jetson’s briefcase car.
That wasn’t futuristic, though. Secret Squirrel had one in the ’60’s, however, in all fairness, it was top-secret technology at the time.
Hey, I can always appreciate a Secret Squirrel reference, but I’m pretty sure the Jetsons was fictional and futuristic. If you’re saying it was a documentary, I’ve got a lot of things to rethink. Like The Flintstones.
After considering the header image, I’ve concluded I would like future cars to be “non-pedestrian-stabby”
The latest round of full-size trucks have entered the chat. Chevy and GM are especially egregious, but no one is innocent. Why have stellar outward visibility and friendly design when you can have a hood that is higher than the already high dash and beltline.
Perhaps we’ll all be buying our electric, modular cars from IKEA in the future and assembling them with nothing more than a screwdriver and an allen wrench.
I would like to see BEVs become more affordable and common.
And I want to see cars and minivans make a comeback.
And I’d like to see solar integrated into roof designs to provide that extra bit of range and efficiency… and have the beauty of having your car slowly charge itself by just sitting outside even when not plugged in.
I want to see conventional diesel buses and trucks get completely replaced with BEVs… and BEVs with diesel range extenders where extra range is needed.
And I want to see lifted bro trucks, particularly ones powered with diesel engines, die out completely.
And one way to do that is with strict enforcement of maximum bumper height rules/regulations/laws. If the OEM bumper is too high due to a lift, then a strong lower 2nd bumper that lines up with a regular car’s bumper needs to be attached to the frame
Related to that, because I have asthma and appreciate clean air, I want to see consumer-focused diesels die out completely because too many idiot consumers like to remove emissions equipment from them (I’m looking at you, bro-truck owners… and also looking at VW TDI owners).
Oh and I’d like to see restrictions put on modern headlights as it pertains to maximum headlight height and the amount of glare the cause to oncoming traffic.
Tied in with that, it seems that some cars these days have a setting (called “adaptive headlights” in vehicles like Teslas) that turns on the high beams automatically… but does a terrible job of turning them off when they should. There should be a law or regulation that disables that and instead, the high beams need to be off by default every time someone turns on their vehicle.
Oh and related to that, if the dashboard lights are on or look ‘on’, then the regular front and rear lights need to be on as well. If the exterior lights are off, then the dashboard and controls should not be visible at night… thereby being a simple way to remind people to turn on their lights at night.
Too many people these days drive without their lights on because the dashboard is always illuminated.
So that’s what I want to see in the future… more actual cars, fewer trucks, NO bro-trucks, no consumer-grade diesel, more affordable BEVs, more solar, people having their lights on at night and less headlight glare.
Let’s imagine a future where you don’t need a car. If you need a ride you can summon one from your app on the phone like uber or Lyft. There is robust public transport including bullet trains. Then people can pay even more rent and subscribe to everything else.
“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.”
(Also, I really liked the Via microtransit when I was working onsite in West Sacramento w/o a car. For tree-fiddy a van shows up and takes you where you want to go, might be a couple stops along the way.)
Keep ICE vehicles on the road for collectors .Or look into the systems with synthetic gasoline. Some minor tweaks and it can stay on the road.
On top of all the other good ideas here, I would like to see the return of coach building. Ideally, some sort of modular platform where the car “driveable” chassis could be customized with whatever body you select, and the factory will 3d print it and install (or you could do it).
Like a factory certified Meyers Manx, but only the exterior panels are bespoke – structural stuff, the safety equipment, power train, suspension etc are all “standard”.
I would like to see the future where the internal combustion engines still rule without stupid hybrid system.
Basically I want a lot of modern shit to disappear:
– connectivity
– touch screens and capacitive buttons
– intrusive nannies
– black boxes allowing my insurer not to pay me if I fuck up while speeding (it’s a thing here)
– most gadgets that’ll be a nightmare tonfix once the car is 20 yo and I can finally afford it
– drive by wire instead of mechanical linkeages that let me feel what the car is doing
Now get off my lawn!
I’d like to see a move away from complexity. As a rural and remote vehicle operator I don’t need the fancy shit…I just need to get from A to B and I might need a real spare tyre (or two) along the way.
Amen brother. I want my stuff to be fixable and reliable.
IF society/civilization still exists 100 years from now, I suspect most folks will be driving ox carts.
Why not an Amish buggy with a horse or two?
The future of the automobile should be… continuously variable….
I think that’s a given. One only hopes we’ll also be able to change gear…
I want it to be whatever it’s going to be, but with better drivers.
Amen. Twice in the past week I’ve had to avoid insane, drunk or just plain dangerous drivers and I am sick of it.