In-car Technology Takes Over

Our cars are often thought of as expressions of our personality, people choose the colour and extras for their car to make them unique. These days there are plenty of technological gadgets to put in our cars that can be useful or just there for fun. A lot of manufacturers have caught on to the demand for certain gadgets and have begun adding them to their cars as standard.

One common addition to cars are new after-market car stereos as more and more people are looking for MP3 compatibility and top sound quality. Some car stereos now have added features that would make a home PC jealous with USB inputs and iPod connections, some cars even have the ability to play DVDs on small screens scattered around the car’s interior.

Another common feature of many modern cars is the built-in satellite navigation system. These devices have had a meteoric rise in popularity as they can give us turn by turn instructions to our destination. Essentially replacing the use of a map and your own sense of direction satellite navigation units have become the motorist’s best friend with many designed for driving abroad also.

Impressive stereos and sat navs have started being offered as extras with new cars but there are other technological features being added like rear parking sensors. Rear parking sensors use sonar to detect upcoming objects which we could bump into when reversing. Parallel parking is a tricky task for many drivers and this feature can help warn the driver of a bump or knock before it happens.

Some sensors are even more elaborate and include miniature CCTV cameras built into the car’s bumper. This gives you an even clearer, visual clue as top what’s behind you and how close you are to it.

Some cars have other sensor based technology as standard including automatic lights which detect light and dark and automatic windscreen wipers which detect rain. Some manufacturers even produce systems that alert you to dangerous driving, for example if you drift out of your lane on the motorway.

Technology in our cars doesn’t stop there, there are cars being designed that can sense an accident before you actually have it. By using similar sonar and camera equipment to the parking sensors to detect obstructions or dangers ahead your car could apply the brakes.

It can seem that our cars could drive themselves with all this technology on board, but driving still needs our full attention and these technologies are there to help us and make driving more enjoyable.

By: Phil Adams-Wright

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Phil has been writing on various car finance related subject such as used cars and car loans to help find the right car for you