This story is Part 2 in a series focusing on electric vehicles and where this green technology is headed. In Part 1, we talked about the need for better battery technology if electric cars are going to continue to gain in popularity.
In the past few weeks, we have seen the world’s first all-electric car debuted, with the release of the Chevy Bolt, BMW’s gesture-controlled vehicle, and Audi’s virtual dashboard. But perhaps the biggest surprise was the introduction of a somewhat ordinary mid-sized sedan, the Mercedes E-Class.
Autonomous Cars – Making drivers obsolete
An autonomous car is a driver-less vehicle that is able to sense its environment and navigate without human input. In other words, the human becomes a passenger only. Autonomous vehicles use a number of technologies to feel their surroundings, like radar, lidar, GPS, Odometry, and computer vision.
The Mercedes E-Class is an important step forward in reaching fully autonomous driving because it is the first production car licensed for autonomous test-driving in the state of Nevada. And this car is no wimp. It can drive itself at speeds up to 209 mph.
A recent story in the Washington Post cites Google’s autonomous car as being light years ahead of its competitors, having racked up over 400,000 miles of test-driving on California’s highways. Tesla, and a number of other companies are working on improving their technologies, especially in reducing the number of driver interventions.
Mercedes-Benz, according to the California Department of Transportation, had 1,031 driver interventions over a period of 14-months, with Nissan having the fewest. However, on a mile-per-mile basis, Google came out far ahead, virtually requiring no interventions.
Interestingly, Tesla claims they have had absolutely no instances where driver-intervention was required. Some may wonder at Tesla’s perfect record, but this seems improbable, says the Washington Post, especially when an automaker anticipates driver-less car technology to become pervasive in the next few years.
Tesla has an answer that should quiet doubters. In a statement from the company, they say: “Tesla is testing autonomous driving technology in a variety of ways, including many aspects of such systems in real-world driving situations. We are just not currently conducting testing in a way that falls within the specific classifications of the DMV report.”
Virtual dashboards will become the new instrument panels
Our vehicles’ dashboards, or instrument panels can tell us how fast we are going, how much gas is left in the tank, even how many RPMs the car is using. But what if you want to see navigation instructions, an incoming caller’s name, or your hybrid battery’s efficiency?
What is needed is an LCD screen that lets you see and process all the information the car is giving you plus any information from connected devices. Automotive manufacturers are talking about a big-screen LCD display. Right now, you will find LCD screens on about a dozen premium cars, but they will be appearing on affordable hybrid cars very soon.
It’s not a done deal as to what this new LCD dashboard is going to be called. The industry is tossing around several ideas, such as digital dashboard, virtual instrument cluster, reconfigurable instrument cluster, glass cockpit and digital instrument cluster display (ICD), according to Extreme Tech.
Basically, the car instrument panel is going the way of the center stack LCD. The instrument panel is on the far side of the steering wheel, while the center stack is where the radio/head unit and climate control knobs are found. According to IHS Automotive, a Minnesota consulting group, by 2017, two-thirds of cars sold in North America will have a center stack with a display radio, or head unit with an LCD display of 4.5 inches.
The instrument panel as we know it will die a quiet death, with 85 percent of cars having at least, a partial LCD, while 10 percent will have full LCD displays. “Safety is the main driver for LCD displays in the instrument cluster or small displays in the head unit,” says Mark Boyadjis, an IHS senior analyst.
Will electric cars lead us into the future? Perhaps they will. As automotive manufacturers look to newer and better technologies, we will have an improved driving experience, a lower death rate from auto accidents and an easing of the congestion on our highways.
For those readers who missed it, Part 1, The future of electric cars may hinge on improving batteries, gives some insight into the challenges in battery technology in electric cars.
