Future Car Technology: What's In Store?

Your new car can already tell you if it needs the oil changed or if you're too close to the car in front, it can help you park, give you directions, adjust temperature to your specific preferences, keep your kids entertained and run on electricity. So, what's next? Automatic Pilot? Well... you may not be too far off.

Future cars will combine safety, navigation, communication, entertainment and fuel efficiency. Concept automobiles have already given us a glimpse of what's in store, but many cool features and technology are still being developed by the brightest automotive minds.

The defense department sponsored a contest in which more than twenty robot cars raced through a 132-mile course without a driver. They relied on a combination of GPS, laser sensors and video imaging. What's most impressive is that they didn't need human intervention or remote control at all.

Other automakers like GM believe software will become an integral part of the vehicles. This shift is already happening with Onstar, which GM plans to include it in all its cars. The combination of this advanced technology and a design to match it could eliminate the need for certain service work.

Gasoline will be a thing of the past, replaced, more than likely, by hydrogen. The most plentiful and readily available element in the planet delivers superior fuel efficiency and no air pollution. The first hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are almost ready to hit the market, which manufacturers predict will be no later than 2010.

All these capabilities will come with wireless connectivity, aerodynamic designs and intelligent technology. Now, if only they could fly...

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