Way back in the early 1900s, cars used to be a real pain – they needed to be hand-cranked before they started, they were uncomfortable, drove horribly on bad roads, broke down often, and one had to take a mechanic along if the car was to be driven for a medium distance.
At that time, no one imagined that just 100 years down the line cars would feature automatic transmission and whiz at unbelievable speeds, would house a telephone and play your favorite music, incorporate safety measures such as air bag protection, have ultra-luxurious facilities, and so on and so forth.
Today, we cruise along the roads comfortably, happy with the conveniences that science and technology have brought into our mobile life. But, do you know what is going to happen in the distant future? Do you know that we may be able to fly around in cars just like fictional characters do in movies like star wars? Do you know how science and technology are about to turn the concept of cars and motoring on its head by throwing in unimaginable fuel sources to power the cars, and by making them interactive and super-convenient? Come on, let's take a peep into the future of cars.
The Fuel Factor
Technologists and car manufacturers are aware that supplies of gasoline will get scarcer and more expensive by the day as the earth's burgeoning population keeps burning more and more fuel for its energy requirements. Hence, there is a move to shift from gasoline-powered cars to cars using alternative, more environment-friendly fuels, either singly or in combination (hybrid cars). Here are some of the possibilities that are being explored:
Electric Cars: These cars run on batteries that have to be charged every time their power gets depleted. These cars are cumbersome to maintain as batteries take a long time to charge and have a limited life, the car's speed is limited, and so is its range. For medium–long distance commuters, these cars are not practical, and short distance travelers too may find them quite a headache with all the battery charging and replacing required.
Hydrogen-powered cars: These cars are a hot topic of discussion nowadays and many car manufacturers have announced their foray into hydrogen-fuel-powered cars. The theory behind these cars is that hydrogen is a superb carrier of energy and is very light. Though it will cost more than gasoline, hydrogen as a fuel is well worth a try as it will neither leave behind any pollutants whatsoever, nor will it blow out any unpleasant smell. The only residue it will leave will be water, which too will be drained out without any effort by the hydrogen fuel cells in the car.
Solar-powered cars: The sun is a tremendous source of abundant energy that can be used in cars without producing any polluting residues. But the trick is in harnessing the sun's energy to the maximum, and that is something that we haven't been able to do still. Up to now, the sun's energy is captured using photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight into electrical energy. The problem with these photovoltaic cells is that they are expensive and cannot produce enough energy to enthuse any carmaker to invest in this technology, yet. However, we may be able to come up with an energy grabbing-and-producing source that does justice to all the energy we get from the sun. Till then we can only wait and watch.
Nitrogen-powered cars: This is another hot technology that will soon be the buzzword in the car-manufacturing industry. Researchers are testing a technology wherein liquid nitrogen is stored in a pressure-controlled environment and then converted to energy when it escapes from the tank after being preheated. The nitrogen then undergoes expansion, which is an endothermic reaction and produces energy that moves the car. The emission is just pure nitrogen gas, which already exists in the air! For all you know these cars may end up purifying the air!
The Mobility Factor
Do you know that the first flying car will hit America in 2009? It's called Transition and is being manufactured by an American company, Terrafugia. It will feature an aircraft engine and will have foldable wings, and here's how it will go: press a button, fold the wings and drive to the nearest airport. Now, unfold wings, gas up and fly up to 460 miles! Even now, researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are working on a car-cum-plane. If we are going to be hit by a flying car as early as 2009, just imagine what will happen, say 25 years down the line, when we are equipped with better computer technologies, fuel harnessing capabilities and light weight materials!
Experts opine that within 25 years from now (2007), flying cars will be zipping in and out all over the place. These cars will be able to easily take off and land vertically, like a helicopter and work with fuels of tomorrow. Sure thing there will be cars that move on roads too – the Government needs road tax, remember?
The Interaction and Convenience Factor
The cars of the future will be incredibly interactive. Work is already in progress on multimodal and multi-lingual human-to-computer dialogue technologies. The results will be pretty interesting – a car owner will be able to speak to the computer in the car and query it using speech. The car will first recognize the voice and produce answers to the query from its database. The questions can be anything – from "Where am I? I seem to be lost!" to "Can you tell me the closest restaurant from here that serves raw lobster meat?" I'm sure you get the point.
And, oh yeah, the dashboard will not be as you see it today – rather, it will feature an exciting graphical display, something right out of Star Trek. It will show you music lists and town maps, and the computer will keep gabbing with you. Who knows, you may not even have to drive! Because the car will be automatically driven by its computer that knows exactly where you are headed for and is intelligent enough to navigate the traffic!
The cars of the future will be safe too because their doors will only open when the car's computer system matches your fingerprints, or maybe you may have to get your iris matched before opening or starting the car. Whatever it is you may have to do, but biometric security systems will surely be built into the cars of the future.
As far as convenience goes, there are car gurus who proclaim that you will even be able to pee in your car. Well, you can do that even now – the difference, however, is that the car of the future will handle the situation in a more hygienic manner. Almost anything and everything is possible. Who knows, 100 years down the line human teleportation may become possible. Then the cars of the future will not be needed. Till that happens, let us keep dreaming about these "bootilicious" beauties and experience the wonders car technology brings into our lives.
