5 technologies that will revolutionize the future of cars

The automotive world is constantly evolving thanks to technology. In this article we bring you 5 new developments that will revolutionise the automotive sector and captivate users. In Spain, these new proposals are aimed at achieving greater safety, ecology and sustainability.

TREV

One of the new developments that will be a hit in the automotive world is the rechargeable turbine-powered electric vehicle, known as TREV (Turbine-Recharging Electric Vehicle system), a system for hybrid cars based on aeronautical operation.

Chinese automotive innovation and development company Techrules unveiled an electric car combined with aeronautical turbine technology at the 2016 Geneva International Motor Show.

Later, at the 2017 and 2018 Geneva International Motor Shows, they also presented the Ren supercars that incorporated this hybrid power technology with an 80 kW turbine generator. A system of 96,000 revolutions per minute, producing 36 kW of which 30 feed the battery, while 6 kW goes to auxiliary equipment. Its autonomy is one of its interesting elements, since it can travel more than 2,000 km with an 80-liter tank of aviation kerosene.

Techrules will soon begin producing and selling a 45 kW turbine in small series , which runs on renewable fuels. It can also be used as an independent power generator. This technology has achieved unprecedented levels of efficiency and performance, combined with minimal environmental impact, which can be enjoyed through new rental cars.

Voice-activated assistants

Users are becoming more and more demanding, which means that technology is increasingly adapting to their demands. Another innovation in this sector is the voice activation of systems integrated into vehicles.

Dr Fathi El-Dwaik, Vice President of Human Machine Interaction at BMW, says that cars are becoming increasingly intelligent and therefore communication with users needs to be as natural and simple as possible.

In this regard, Amazon has launched Echo Auto, an equivalent to Alexa for cars , which consists of a device that includes a support to be placed on the vents and allows voice control of the car's systems. However, it is not compatible with all types of vehicles.

This type of device allows you to play music, control the car's climate, answer calls and activate other types of assistants. The aim is to expand the capacity of this technology and enable it to activate more functions by voice , while the driver maintains his concentration on the road.

Natural interaction with the environment

Artificial intelligence is changing the way drivers interact with their cars and their environment. Among the technologies that will revolutionise cars, the BMW Natural Interaction system occupies an interesting place .

It was presented at the Mobile World Congress 2019 and is expected to be included in cars by 2021. It is a system that combines gesture recognition and eye direction through augmented reality.

This system will allow natural human-vehicle interaction , allowing, for example, information about a building to be obtained by simply pointing at it with a finger. These innovations in the sector point to an intelligent interaction that makes the car become an extension of the user.

Sensors that detect what you can't see

Safety is a key element driving the technologies that will revolutionise cars. One of the most common causes of road accidents is the presence of objects that are not visible to drivers. When a driver cannot see an obstacle in time, he or she makes impulsive last-minute decisions to avoid it, and not always with favourable results.

LIDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) is a laser object detection and measurement system that determines the distance of objects and other vehicles from your own car by measuring the time between the emission of a laser pulse and its reflected signal.

An interesting system that is expected to be incorporated into autonomous vehicles in a couple of years. Its precision and cost are yet to be determined, but it will be a good ally for road safety.

Cars built by electronics companies

Following the smartphone revolution, there is a trend among electronics companies towards the automotive sector . The first steps were taken by Steve Jobs with the creation of the VVehicle, which has not yet been produced.

The first autonomous car known as Waymo was created by Google's self-driving car project. Its technology allows it to drive autonomously in the city and on the road, detecting other vehicles, traffic signs, pedestrians, etc.

One of the new products presented at the CES International Show in Las Vegas last January was the Sony Vision-S, a four-seater electric car equipped with the latest in connectivity technology , with 360º audio and 33 sensors to make autonomous driving possible. Kenichiro Yoshida, president of Sony Corporation, says that it will be the megatrend of the next decade.

A sector in constant evolution

Automotive companies surprise us year after year. Their innovations are geared towards improving technology, safety and ecology , through multiple resources. The new trend of electronics companies incorporating themselves into car design is becoming a big trend.

The industry offers technologies that are so far ahead of our times that many of them are still in the testing phase . It will be interesting to closely follow the evolution of these systems that will revolutionize cars in the future.