The Future Car and Its Effects on Us - Research Paper Example

The Future Car and Its Effects on Us Cars are types of vehicle which are capable of offering personal mobility as well as convenience. The future car may not look very much different from the current car but its technology will show a difference. The future car will be packed with a huge variety of devices including computers and other safety devices according to Juhlin (88). It I said to be run using carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen or not. Some emerging technologies will make way into the future cars. Computer technology has already been introduced in the modern car making the driver have less to do in controlling the vehicle. With the increasing new forms of fuel technology, engine technology, crash protection and also driver assistance systems the future car is likely to be far ahead of the present car. The key idea is that the future car will be a less discrete vehicle than the today’s car. The concept of the future car has become more scientific. The future car has been emerging gradually over the past few years. Each new modern design actually acts as a showcase for the design and technology of the future car. The business of defining the future car has become more of real science than it has been in the past. Lemke, Paar and Wolf (95) state that governments have made progress in encouraging the use of advanced technology. Cars security has improved over several years while cars that can drive themselves have remained under discussion for a long time. Some of the existing technologies and well proven technologies including remind systems, seatbelt, advanced braking systems and intelligent airbags might be considered to be casualty reduction ability if introduced in all cars. “It will be possible for cars which cannot operate unless the driver is insured, taxed and licensed and under permitted blood alcohol concentration, to be developed’, according to Lemke, Paar and Wolf (95). There will also be vehicles which are able to prevent over speeding, and getting too close to the next vehicle. They will also be capable of preventing the driver from losing control when negotiating a corner or drifting across lanes automatically. With the appropriate government leadership, these vehicles can remain in the road for about ten to twenty years. Today manufactures are able to design cars capable of assisting the driver by avoiding minor errors which can be dangerous. With the manufactures efforts to improve car technology the government needs to develop a clear plan for intelligent transport systems. It should also set well defined roles and responsibilities of transport department and trade and industry department. With the new technology the future car there is need of advanced emergency services. The roles of the highway agency as well as those of driving standards agency should be well spelt in the law. The future car comes with new technologies which need to be well evaluated prior to introduction and prioritizing of technologies with big cost benefit ratio. In order to ensure safety of the future car the governments need to support use of the set regulations so as to promote cleaner and safe vehicle design. One of the challenges facing the future car is the need to capture benefits of using a car and at the same time reduce negative effects of car travel on security and environment. This is because the increasing use of cars is said to have increased incident of accidents and air pollution. However the future car technology promises to solve these challenges. The future car will be more developed due to new fuels and propulsion systems replacing diesel and petrol. For instance cars using hydrogen fuel cells will emit steam as opposed to cars using diesel and petrol. Japanese manufactures are planning to subsidize their environmental cars to help them expand their market. As other companies are planning to establish hybrid cars, Toyota Company in Japan has already done it. Mazda Company in Japan in alliance with fuel cell cars is planning to introduce a hydrogen-burning and rotary engine Miata. Honda Company has introduced a Z-LEV version and four cylinder engines which it claims to be nearly pollution free. In the future car this engine will drive via the heart of the electric vehicle. General Motors have planned to introduce its own type of hybrid vehicles using Paradigm technology which applies the use of twin electric motors supercharge. The car will be able to achieve thirty five miles per gallon. For the US market the car the car companies are planning to use new technologies such as fuel cells into big vehicles capable of fitting all the kids in the back seat and yet tow a trailer. General Motors dramatized its future car by answering probing environmental questions from little kids. Researchers have introduced already the concept of the regenerative braking system, where when brakes are applied; the braking system generates power that can be used by the vehicle. The system will best be applied to hybrid vehicles. BMW has also introduced the concept of the turbosteamer which is bound to help in the conservation of energy for future automobiles. According to Ford motor company, their future car will be a continuation of the aero look in their cars. It will have more glass and it will be thinner, and stronger to be structural. Its driver will be able to realize more visibility and a more open feeling inside the car. The proportion of the car will be 1-box as opposed to 3-box which is currently in the market. The car’s overall design will be dramatic sculpturing in the sheet metal shape as opposed to the egg shape. The future car will be designed to offer the passenger more lateral support as suggested by Bingham and Robson (76). According to General Motors Corporation, the future car will have thin-wall; lean appearance. It will be more of glass which will be flush with metal. Windshield will be faster with a different shape at the backlight. The car will also have an aero rounded shape but not squirrel-cheeked. The doors will be thinner and less overlapping body parts. The wheel design will also be bigger. According to Great Britain Parliament - Transport Committee (135), generally there are high expectations on the future car with the improved technology by around 2030.For the technology able to identify road, traffic and environmental conditions from far will be developed and implemented by 2025. Also the information and communication exchange technology among cars is expected to develop and implemented by 2016. Although the development may occur the popularity of this technology may be slow. For instance in regard to popularity, car-to-car communication is expected to take effect by 2021 while car-to-road will occur by 2025. The main issue is the traffic safety administration and attendant investment. There is the necessity of establishing human-machine interface technology. This is capable of transmitting information and warnings to drivers. Automatic operation technology designed for special roads is projected to be implemented by 2022. This technology will be popular by 2030. In technology that reduces damage in an accident there is the development of a technology capable of predicting the passengers body injury is predicted to be implemented by 2030. Compatibility technology between a car and a heavy-duty truck is predicted to develop by 2025. There is also the idea of developing pedestrian protecting car body in the future which is expected to occur by 2012 and be implemented by 2016. It is evident from above that the future car will be more dependent on information technology security because of the following developments as noted by (Magda, Sharad, Gene and Nalini (66): There is a prediction that increasing number of electronic control units is bound to be reprogrammable and it has to be protected. Strong security is needed as cars will have wireless communication with environment. Increased networking of cars which will permit collection of each driver’s data will demand technology based privacy. Increase in legislative demands such as emergency calls, secure road billing and resistant macrographs can be solved only by use of modern information technology security systems. There will the need for secure driver identification as future cars will be highly personalized. More advanced electronic anti-theft measures capable of ensuring individual items protection will be put in place. It is evident that information technology security will be vital for many future cars. For some applications like business models which are based on Digital Rights Management and information technology security will act as enabling technology. It appears that majority of future cars will possess powerful infotainment devices. The infotainment system will involve fusion of telecommunication, home entertainment as well as car specific information systems such as navigation. So as to access control for car data many cars will be installed with wireless interface for instance, Bluetooth or global system for mobile communication. This enables control over technical data about the car as well as the driving behavior information as suggested by Lemke, Paar and Wolf (126). With the increased use of information technology and security systems in the future car, there will be following implications as noted by Romm (54). Information technology requirement will become a necessary application for future automotives. Competent expertise will be needed by suppliers and manufactures in as far as embedded security technologies are required New information technology based business models will exist to offer services such as fee-based flashing and location services for security services. Extremely designed security solutions since a minor mistake in the design can render the whole process insecure. The future car will face a lot of changes as far as the internal combustion is concerned. As suggested by Linde (34), apart from the car being information technology dependent, it is likely that in future there will be electric cars. An advanced electric car will have the following componentsaccording to Linde (36) : An electric motor which is capable of converting electrical power into mechanical power Air conditioning system this enables enough air regulation in the car Electric water pumps for circulating the coolant which removes heat from the electric motor Power airing mechanism Transmission refers to a single speed reducing gear Modular power train cradle necessary for connecting the motor and the chassis it also gives the car anti-vibration insulation An electric vacuum pump used to power brakes and the steering High voltage electric heater device helps control the temperature of the battery and also helps in heating the interior Vehicle control unit monitors and controls everything from the brakes to distributing power between the driving wheels Battery pack is the source of electricity; the battery cells contain 23kWh of energy capable of covering around one hundred miles between recharges AC charger is used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) DC to DC converter which supplies electricity to a single twelve volts battery used for powering headlamps and other devices Superb Designs According to Watson (56), there will be a lot to be done by the designers as they will have to look for alternative influences and new themes for their designs. The exterior design of the cars will be influenced by laws. For instance strict pedestrian laws protecting the pedestrians have been put into force demanding the car’s front end to be softer. Due to the increasing use of hydrogen fuel cell as well as hydrogen combustion engine car bodies are likely to reflect the nature of their power in future (Romm 2612). There will also be changes in the interior design of the future car as it will become more personalized and friendly to the user. To increase comfort of the driver and the passenger, controls which are ergonomically positioned and adjustable lumbar support seats will be fixed in the future car. The car will be designed to have personalized and also a customizable interior space. Security Features There will be a difference in as far as access to future cars is concerned as key guard systems and use of push button code will replace the key. Biometrics which use fingerprinting as a password and are available in computer systems could also effectively replace the key. Media systems have continued to develop in the modern cars. Manufacturers are stuffing more video screens into different places in the car. The MP4 technology will allow more footage on board. Improved wireless internet connections will imply that larger roads are capable of supporting internet enabled cars. At the same time this will be able to inform the driver of relevant and up to date road information (Magda, Sharad, Gene and Nalini 64). The Global Positioning system will be fixed in the cars to screen live images of traffic reports as well as predicting traffic jam (IA 35). The Global positioning system will also supply alternative routes incase of vehicle congestion. Cars’ sound systems will improve and be more personalized for different passengers. For instance variety of radio stations played at same time and other sound outlets. In as far as car theft is concerned; the Global Positioning system technology together with mobile phone network and Bluetooth will be used to track lost vehicles. Once a car is lost a call will be made making the car’s engine to shut down, and at same time another call which alerts nearby police is sent out. By use of the global System unit fixed in the police car and the lost car police will be able to track it. Bluetooth technology will allow the police to trap a car and get information about the owner and recent speed and acceleration figures. The future car comprise of a control floor plan, it will also have a roll cage having capable of accommodating different bodyworks. Body works will change with introduction of bio composites maintained aero parity to improve the car model. There will also be introduction of polycarbonate windscreen which will replace the glass with time. Positive effects of the future car on the society There will be reduced air pollution as most of the toxic gases produced by the modern types fuel will not be there. Cars will provide a better means of transport incase of long distance traveling. This is due to the use of the Global Positioning System capable of providing other routes in case of traffic jam. As suggested by Thompson (35), the development in the manufacturing of vehicles has greatly influenced the growth of many types of industries which produce most of the materials needed in manufacturing these vehicles. This will increase sources of employment. The development in cars will also lead to development in roads thus providing more employment. There will also be fast transport due to the use of computers as opposed to the current situation where there is always traffic jam. Reduction in car theft will be another issue to come to end with the future car. This because there will be introduced better means of tracking lost vehicles using the Bluetooth and Global Positioning Systems. The negative effects of the future car on the society According to Motavalli (22), the improved car transport will lead to extinction or reduced use of other automobiles such as the trains. The increased use of the car will lead to expansion of roads hence clearing of forests. The forest clearing will lead to other problems like lack of rain because there will be no trees to attract rainfall, it also affects ecological balance. The car owners will have little or no privacy of their cars due to the fixing of the Global System Positioning and other internet connections in the cars. The use of other forms of fuel will lead to the current forms of fuel being outdone hence lack of employment. The increased development in the future car will lead to increased gap between the rich and the poor this is because not everyone will be capable of buying. The maintenance cost of the car will become more expensive due to the expensive materials installed in it. Works Cited Bingham, Phillip & Robson, Graham. Illustrated Directory of Classic Cars. Osceola: MotorBooks International, 2001. Great Britain Parliament - Transport Committee. Cars of the future: volume I: report, together with formal minutes. London: The Stationery Office, 2004. IA Getting. IEEE  Perspective/navigation-The Global Positioning System Volume 30 Issue:12, 1993. pp36 - 38, 43-47. Juhlin, Oskar. Social Media on the Road: The Future of Car Based Computing. New York NY: Springer, 2010. Lemke, Kerstin, Paar, Christof. & Wolf, Marko. Embedded security in cars: securing current and future automotive IT applications. Boston: Birkhäuser, 2006. Linde, Arvids. Electric Cars the Future is now: Your Guide to the Cars You Can Buy now and What the Future Holds. Dorchester DT1 1TT, England: Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2010. Magda El Zarki, Sharad Mehrotra, Gene Tsudik and Nalini Venkatasubramanian. Security Issues in a Future Vehicular Network. Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA. USA. Motavalli, Jim. Drive Forward: the race to build "clean" cars for the future. London: Earthscan, 2001. Romm References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article. Joseph. The car and fuel of the future. Journal of Energy Policy. Volume 34, Issue 17, November 2006, Pages 2609-2614 Thompson, Lisa. Inventing the Future. Clayton South, Vic: Blake Education, 2005. Watson, Richard. Future files: 5 trends that will shape the next 50 year. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2008. Read More