Illustrated by Dilek BaykaraCar and Driver
From the July/August 2022 issue of Car and Driver.
Today, walk to your car, it will recognize your key and unlock the door. It can also set the seat to your preferred location; connect wirelessly to your phone; change the interior accent lights to the yellow, green, and purple colors you chose Mardi Gras last time and never updated; and ask if you want to play Centipede or maybe order a pizza. These are important upgrades to the driving experience, and if this were 1982 or, even 2012 (pre-Apple CarPlay days), this hypothetical car would be an incredible feat of technology. future. In 2022, it’s just a Subaru. Or a Dodge. Or any of the moderately selected new models from the past few years.
Automakers are racing to introduce new and exciting technology, and that means we’re also seeing a lot of useless features — or at best, moderately novel ones. Everyone is selling ‘connected’ and ‘smart’ cars, so why are so many perks of these brilliant, sensor-laden smart cars and computers, well, a bit silly? silly? I do not object. Puddle lights spell out the car’s name when you open the door? Gandy. Even if they’re not useful for finding the house key you just dropped. The infotainment system offers natural sounds, and the radio can change the volume with the right swipe of your hand. But while product managers are busy copying each other’s ideas for small LED light shows, there are still automotive inconveniences that we have barely addressed since Curved Dash Olds . Since I want to help, here are a few places where I think smart car technology can go a long way in improving the driving experience.
You want a light show, let’s talk about visors. The sun has been the enemy of the traveler since the first one went west in the afternoon. And yet, the biggest improvement I’ve seen in sunshade is the addition of a small flap that can extend to the second half of the side windows. Sometimes there is a mirror, and the mirror has light. It’s beautiful, but the sun is still in my eyes. Some car companies use electrochromic technology in their glass roofs to adjust from clear to translucent. Can we do the same on windows? There are rules for tinting, but what if the windshield could track the hot spot and just darken it? What if all the windows were blacked out while the car was parked to keep the inside cool? Sunglasses can automatically darken. Would the auto industry feel comfortable being fooled by a $200 pair of Ray-Bans?
I didn’t solve the visibility problem. The mirror will adjust itself based on the driver’s palm line. Cadillac tracks your face to make sure you’re paying enough attention to use Super Cruise, and Subaru uses facial recognition to adjust the seats and mirrors to preset positions. Why not go a step further and use technology to see where you are and automatically calculate the best settings for your rearview and side mirrors?
Speaking of facial recognition, the new Genesis GV60 unlocks with a face-level camera and boots through a fingerprint sensor. Biometrics are already used, mostly to sell us things, but if our cars are tracking us, can they at least be a better friend than tattletale? It can warn us when we’re too sleepy to drive, or flag low blood sugar and route us to the nearest Wendy’s, or notify us when we’re crying and playing something sad. I recommend Joni Mitchell’s Blue to match the light.
Engineers, if you’re reading this, I have more suggestions: airbag sleeping pillows, phone coolers, self-cleaning steering wheels. Have your car contact me; We will connect.
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