Coming soon: New features to make cars safer, smarter
LAS VEGAS — Self-driving cars garner much of the attention, but in reality, we're years away from tooling around in something like Knight Rider's KITT. Coming sooner to a car near you: smart phone apps on dash displays, cruise control that adapts to cars around it, remote engine starting and more.
At International CES in Las Vegas this week, 10 automakers and numerous suppliers unveiled technological features that will find their way into cars in the distant and not-so-distant future. Here's a look at some of their wares.
• Ask Chevrolet's OnStar system for directions to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts, and you might receive a coupon. The carmaker has partnered with the doughnut chain, Priceline.com and the Speedway brand of gas stations for opt-in promotions.
• The service can mine data in the car to offer advice on systems that might be close to failing, like a near-dead battery or a fuel system malfunction. Pass along your real-time driving habits to your insurer, and you might earn rewards for good driving.
• Being able to plug one's smart phone into a dash display seems obvious with so many plug-and-play options elsewhere, but it hasn't been easy in cars until now. Apple's Car Play and eventually Android's version will let drivers plug in their devices and view their songs, apps and maps on the in-car display.
• Hyundai's Blue Link system now includes a smart phone app that lets car owners start the car remotely, lock or unlock it, find their car within a mile using GPS tracking (such as in a big parking lot), send a destination to the car's navigation system and send alerts. Have a teenage driver in the house? Your car, via your phone, will tell you if the car was started after curfew or if it was traveling above a certain speed limit.• Adaptive cruise control available in cars soon will be so advanced that the machines will sense when a car ahead is slowing down and safely change lanes to zoom around (on the driver's signal.) If a car up ahead stops or there's a red light, the car will come to a halt. Inside a Volkswagen Golf being tested by Valeo and IAV, self-driving mode brought the car slowly to a stop behind a school bus on a Las Vegas street.
