Smart Cars

Smart cars or intelligent cars are automobiles that use some form of artificial intelligence to enhance the driving experience. Smart cars should not be confused with the Zap Smart Car brand, which has created a line of small urban electric and non-electric vehicles.

Smart cars of the future will be using advanced technology to perform such functions as automatic cruise control, lane departure warnings and correction, hazardous object avoidance, driver awakenings, position and satellite monitoring, self-parking and driverless transportation.
Smart Car
Researchers are developing automotive technology so that in the future, smart cars will be able to interface by wireless and infrared connections with road signs, signals and other roadside communication devices. This will enable computerized smart cars to automatically determine driving conditions such as traffic ahead, road hazards or steep curves and make adjustments ahead of time.
Some day, smart cars will be able to determine their own speeds, put themselves on cruise control, take themselves off, avoid hazards and park themselves with little driver interaction. If you think this is just a pipe dream, then it's good to know that the European Union has already set forth its i2010 Intelligent Car Initiative.
The initiatives goals are to develop safer, cleaner and smarter vehicles. These intelligent cars or smart vehicles will be safer to drive by using technology such as adaptive cruise control to keep a safe distance from other drivers, lane departure warnings and lane change assistants, hypo-vigilance systems for sleepy drivers and an alcohol lock for those over the DUI limits.
Through advanced communication systems including computers, wireless networking and GPS, smart cars will also be able to interactively ease traffic congestion and take more favorable routes as traffic needs arise. Smart cars will also be intelligent enough to avoid pedestrians, bicyclers and others who are not driving automobiles.
Hands-free motoring is another goal for smart car developers who wish to create public transportation systems with individual cars, taxis, shuttle buses and large transport buses that will carry passengers without the need for drivers.
Some of the smart car projects that have been created to improve intelligent communication include CarTalk 2000, SEVECOM, GST, ADAS, ComuniCar, COM2React, CyberCars2, Safespot and Trace.
With the ever-increasing need for newer safety measures and way to decrease traffic congestion, it is most assured that smart cars will one day provide the relief and results that many are now seeking. Until then it is best to turn on an old episode of Knight Rider and listen to Kitt speak to David Hasselhoff and tell him to shape up.

Future Hydrogen Cars

Future hydrogen cars are not way off in some outlandish date, but rather they are right around the corner. Just look in the rear view mirror and the future of hydrogen cars is closer than you think.

Since the year 2000, there have been approximately 100 hydrogen car prototypes rolled out before the public yet hardly a soul knows about them.
The first hydrogen fuel cell was developed in the 1800s and the first official hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was the General Motors Electrovan developed in 1966.
In 2007, both GM and BMW expect to roll out 100 hydrogen cars to select customers. In 2004, Honda offered the first commercial hydrogen car as a lease to a family in Redondo Beach, California. In 2007, Honda leased the FCX hydrogen car to 17-year-old actress Q'orianka Kilcher, her first car. Brad Pitt also arrived in a BMW Hydrogen 7 automobile to the premiere of his new movie Ocean's 13 in Hollywood, California.
Future hydrogen cars however will see vast improvements over the vehicles that are being shown today. For instance, both Ford and GM have come up with plug-in electric hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and this trend will most likely continue.
Future hydrogen cars will combine technologies with hybrid electric cars or flex fuel vehicles to give consumers more choices and to offer alternatives for infrastructure issues. The biggest problem facing future hydrogen cars right now is not the cars themselves or the technology.
The biggest problem is the building of the supporting hydrogen infrastructure. Building facilities to create hydrogen, transport it and dispense it from a fueling station on every corner as is done with gasoline now, will take billions of dollar in capital investment, which the oil companies are shy to do.
This is why both BMW and Mazda have created dual fuel vehicles that can run off either hydrogen or gasoline with the flip of a switch. Ford has create the Superchief, which is a tri-fuel vehicle that can run off gasoline, hydrogen or E85 (ethanol) with the press of a button.
Future hydrogen cars will have this multi-fuel technology combined with advanced battery technology along with a few other surprises as well. One of the surprises for future hydrogen cars is that they may not run off compressed or liquid hydrogen at all.
Researchers are also working on cars that create hydrogen on demand from water or a hydrogen-rich chemical compound and then run this hydrogen through either a fuel cell or internal combustion engine. Others are using hydrogen peroxide to create a chemical reaction to turn a turbine engine to power the wheels of the vehicle.
Future hydrogen cars are still an emerging industry and only time will tell what finally shakes out to become the standard that we all adopt and accept.

The future design of cars is anyone's guess as it is up to the imagination of the designers to create and general public to accept what is brought forth. The good news is that the future design of cars may see radical advancements due to new advancements in drive technology.

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For instance, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric cars have no internal combustion engine and bulky transmission to design a car around.
The fuel cell, batteries and electric motors can be placed in many different arrangements in the vehicles including underneath the floorboard opening up a world of future car design possibilities.
In addition, the future design of cars will also be dependent upon just what does propel the car? For instance what if the car we are referring to is a future flying car rather than an earthbound one. Engines and rotors will lend themselves to different future car design than will other types of engines for automobiles that run on the ground.
And, then there are design and technological advancements that have nothing to do with the propulsion method. For instance, the Audi RSQ was designed from the movie "I, Robot" starring Will Smith. One of the most unique design features of the Audi RSQ is that the wheels are spherical in shape as it does not use traditional wheels or tires.

Future car technologies

Future Car Technology
Future car technology is now wide open. For instance, with peak oil looming and future shortages of fossil fuels imminent there has been much emphasis lately on cars that run on alternative fuels.
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Future car technology will most likely involve a whole host of choices in regard to the fuel of choice.
Ford Nucleon, top and GM Sequel, bottom
Right now many automakers are gearing up for offering vehicles that are able to run on ethanol or other biofuels (such as biodiesel), which is the path of least resistance for the near future.
But, what about longer term? In the longer term, future car technology will most likely involve cars that run on hydrogen, electricity, air, nitrogen or even nuclear power. Some may see the nuclear-powered car as the most far-fetched of all of the ideas, but this is a mistake.
In fact, in 1958 the first nuclear automobile was pioneered and called the Ford Nucleon. The Ford Nucleon was a concept vehicle that was supposed to be powered by a small nuclear reactor at the rear of the vehicle fueled by radioactive material. No working prototypes were ever built, however.
So, this is not the say that nuclear-powered cars will never be part of the future. Car technology will most likely advance to the state will this will one day be a likely fuel of choice.
But, what is here now? Hydrogen, electricity, air and nitrogen cars all have had working prototypes built. In fact, in regard to electric vehicles, production models have also been built. But, the range of electric cars and their recharging rate have always been their downfall.
So, this is where hydrogen cars step in. Hydrogen cars at this writing can run from either internal combustion engines or fuel cells. Some of the current models of hydrogen cars like the GM Sequel have a proven driving range of over 300 miles in real world conditions. The BMW Hydrogen 7 has rolled out as a lease vehicle and is a dual fuel vehicle that can run off either liquid hydrogen or gasoline.
The Honda FCX was the first hydrogen car to be offered as a lease in 2004 and now the second lessee, actress Q'orianka Kilcher who played Pocahontas in the movie "The New World".
Electric cars also offer an option in regard to future car technology if the aforementioned issues may be resolved. Companies like Tesla, Zap and Phoenix Motorcars are making headway in developing these vehicles for the marketplace.
And, then there is the MDI air cars which may be going over big in Europe and India once the compressed air infrastructure is in place. The MDI air cars also have an onboard compressor that plugs into any outlet so this will help with vehicle acceptance.
So, far their has only been one nitrogen car prototype of note and this is the CooLN2Car developed by the University of North Texas. The car has stalled in development, however, due to lack of research funds.
Two other parts of advanced car technology to note are the future flying cars that will be taking flight over the next two or three years and smart cars that will also be seeing the highways and byways sometime in the future as well.