Each new vehicle model being released have features that most old men would have only dreamt off during their childhood. Every new car gets fancier with every upgrade that makes the vehicles more fun and safer to drive. Indeed, 2017 is a promising year in technological advancements and futuristic features in cars.
Android Auto And Apple CarPlay
Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will now be featured on most cars for 2017. Both features were only once available on luxury cars that only the richest of the rich can afford. Fortunately, Apple Inc. and Google finally decided that the features of the program should not be exclusive to the prominent and should be out for public use. Road users and car owners can now enjoy Android Auto as long as they have a smart phone that runs on Android version 5.0 and above. Car owners who have compatible infotainment systems in their car, which would most likely be for most new cars, only needs to get an updated Android smart phone, which is much cheaper than having the whole car system replaced. IPhone users, on the other hand, can use Apple CarPlay with more than 40 car makes and models as long as they have an iPhone 5 and newer versions. These features will allow the driver to use a similar interface through their control panel and will be able to use their phone features such as making calls, sending or receiving text, playing music from their phones, and navigation using the phone's native application.
Cars Communicating With Each Other
Selected model of cars will be capable of talking, or sharing information with each other. Now, this is not something like the old TV Series Knight Rider that has a literally talking car, but cars will be able to communicate using different means through their computer. Information like traffic, hazardous road conditions, quickest routes, and a lot more will be shared. Those features can increase the safety of drivers by informing each other if there are any road accidents ahead, and can also help with the fuel economy by sharing alternate and shorter routes to their respective destinations.
Electric Axles To Improve Fuel Economy
Car owners were only given options to choose between a two-wheel drive and a four-wheel drive vehicle. This has been a dilemma for consumers who do not want to own multiple cars but want to enjoy the features of both. Car owners can always opt to choose a four-wheel drive, but then comes the issue of high petrol prices. Four-wheel drive cars tend to drink more fuel due to the engines need for more power to operate on four wheels. Cars like the Volvo CX90 and the Toyota Rav4 Hybrid now feature what they call e-axles. Basically, an electrically powered axle is put in the rear, for front wheel drive cars, that helps spin the non-dominant tires when needed. This type of vehicles is somewhat familiar to vehicles with adaptive four-wheel drive that uses the power from batteries instead of the gas.
More Self-Driving Cars On Public Roads
More car companies are manufacturing self-driving cars by the minute. The trend that American company, Tesla, has started is growing as more companies venture to the world of autonomous car. Major car brands like BMW and Nissan have begun testing their production autonomous cars and have set goals of releasing them by late next year or by late 2018. No doubt, 2017 will have more self-driving cars on the road than it was this year.
